Coalescence
by Queen000
Summary: Waking up in a world that's unlike your own is a very troubling thing indeed. In fact, the only thing worse than that is the very reason you have been called in the first place... Rated T for language
1. Coalescence

_Dammit it all it happened again. So here I was, being good and focussing my entire attention towards my FF8 novelization when BOOM! My muse comes flying in through my bedroom window and proceeds to beat me with a concrete slab and for what? All so that I'll have this insane idea that won't get out of my head! I can't even begin to fathom which is worse, the concussion resulting in the assault or the bitch laughing her ass at my discomfort. It's probably a mixture of both, I'm sure._

_So, instead of working on a chapter of the Novel, I am posting this story instead. Granted, this happened quite a few months ago (and thus I am without concussion), before Dissidia came to North America. I'm assuming this was my subconscious preparing a substitute in the event Dissidia flopped as badly as Dirge of Cerebus. It didn't, but I'm posting it anyway. _

_Before proceeding with the chapter beyond, I feel it is my duty as a fanfiction author to warn you all of three very important details. First and foremost, this story will not be regularly updated. Why? Because it is a stress reliever on my part. Whenever a new chapter is posted, it will be because my muse has either decided to pay me a visit (joy) or I am stuck on my other story and opted to work on this one instead. Do not spam the review posts by demanding an updated as you will be ignored. My next warning is more relevant to the story. Because FFnet are a bunch of tools, I can only select two universes to post under crossovers rather than three, which is what I intended to do. As such, for those of you who don't like FFX, please bare with me, it wasn't as bad as FFX-2, and I'm sure you'll agree with me on that. Finally, the third bit of news is that this story is not a fan based yaoi where the main characters will get together. I'm not a fan of breaking up couples just for the sheer pleasure of watching guys fuck. If that's why you're here, then I suggest you leave now; you will not like this story._

_Now onto the most loathed part of being a fanfiction author; the freaking disclaimer._

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Final Fantasies 7, 8 or 10, nor do I recieve any kind of profit from writing this story. All blame goes towards my psychotic muse._

* * *

**Chapter I:  
Coalescence**

* * *

"Shera! Just what the hell did you put in my god-damned tea?"

The first thing he was aware of was that his senses were dulled and he felt groggy. The volume of the familiar voice was what had jump-started the process of awakening and slowly he began to feel every sensation, from the feel of the clothes he wore to the cold hard surface he was lying on. Even his hair felt strange. Never before had he felt like this, not even after a confrontation with a monster. Not even against Sephiroth.

He tried to think about what he had been doing last and it came back to him in bits and pieces. He remembered riding his bike christened Fenrir through the desert on a delivery before suddenly feeling dizzy. He could barely recall pulling the vehicle over thinking that perhaps he'd needed a rest, and it was after that memory that it all became spotty. He hadn't trusted his memories much. Not since he'd recovered from his second bout of Mako poisoning. But it had never been that bad before.

The first thought that came to mind was that he'd been attacked from behind. Of course something like that hadn't happened since Kadaj and his gang had jumped him in the canyon outside of Edge, but he wasn't arrogant enough to believe it wouldn't happen again. The world had become a stranger place since Midgar had been decimated by Meteor and Holy.

All of these thoughts and more ran through his mind as he slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position. First he propped himself up by his arms before forcing himself up fully, mindful of the dull throb that would probably spawn a headache later on, and when he willed his eyes to open, his vision blurred as the bright daylight almost blinded him. He blinked a couple of times to get things to focus and started when he recognised the figure that was laying a few feet away from him.

He _knew _that the voice had sounded familiar, though he hadn't seen the elder man since the showdown in Edge's Central Square. Still, Cid Highwind hadn't changed since the last they'd fought together. Short cropped blonde hair and goggles strapped to his forehead, wearing a blue t-shirt and gloves, black pants and a sweater tied around his waist and a pair of black boots. But what stood out against all of that was the sight of his spear, long and thin, with white wrappings around the middle for easy gripping.

First of all, before the strange black out he hadn't been anywhere near the airship pilot, but he also wanted to know why he had his weapon with him. Cloud always travelled with his sword, mainly because making deliveries in the badlands without a weapon was a really stupid idea. Thinking about it made him want to check up on the item in question and when he looked around, he was shocked to find that the sword he had used to fight Sephiroth was missing. In its place however was an equally familiar weapon. The last time he'd seen it, it had been knocked over from its standing position and he'd had to reposition it to its original place.

Cloud Strife eyed the Buster Sword wearily, wondering how the hell it had managed to swap places with his usual weapon. Even before he'd prepared the latter object he had barely lifted the sword for the sentimental value it had. Of course at the time, it had been a different sentiment than what it meant now but the point was moot. Tentatively, he reached out and grasped the handle. It felt somewhat lighter in his hands and he pulled it closer in order to inspect it properly. The dust and dirt that had been collecting along the metal for the last two years was gone and it was as pristine as it had been on the day Avalanche had destroyed the number 1 reactor in Midgar.

It was strange.

This whole situation was strange.

"Cloud?"

Cid's voice startled him out of his thoughts and he looked over to eye the pilot, who was staring at him like he'd seen a ghost. "The hell are _you_ doin' here?" He took a moment to survey his surroundings, the confusion lining his features deepening all the more as the seconds passed. "And where the hell is _here _anyhow?"

Cloud mirrored the elder fighter's actions and realised with a sinking gut that he didn't recognise the area either. They were lying in what looked like an alley on dirt coated ground and the buildings surrounding them looked as though they had been crafted from stone. Looking up, the sky indicated that it was around midday, but that didn't make sense since it should've been close to dusk by now. He tried to check his watch before he realised belatedly that he never had one. It was always Tifa who took to that kind of thing.

"Good question," Cloud answered gravely before turning to address Cid. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Cid shrugged. "Was working on tunin' up the Shera, and the next thing I know I'm wakin' up in this shit hole."

Cloud frowned thoughtfully. At least he wasn't the only one losing his mind. This time anyway. "So you don't remember how you got here either," he said this more to himself than to the former astronaut. Regardless of this fact, Cid nodded in response while he patted himself down. Cloud figured he was searching for his pack of cigarettes.

Ignoring him, the blonde swordsman sighed before pushing himself up onto his feet, the dirt clinging onto the dark material of his pants and vest. Even the sleeve over his left arm was thick with it and he dusted it off almost apathetically as he looked around.

Beyond the alleyway were people walking around casually, talking with the people they were travelling with as they went about their business. Their clothes were strange. It was nothing as far as to call it a costume, but strange all the same. Cloud supposed it was the foreign nature of it all. Some wore shirts and shorts that looked as though they'd seen better days, and almost everyone wore sandals, but it was the people who walked around wearing robes that put him off. The only person he'd ever seen dressed in one had been Red's grandfather, BugenHagen, and he had been strange to say the least.

"We may have a problem fitting in," Cloud said as he looked down at what he wore, the black vest with the one sleeve and metal shoulder guard and a pair of pants with pockets along the side standing out amidst the populace who wandered the streets beyond. More importantly, he eyed the Buster Sword apprehensively. The weapon was almost as tall as he was, and barely half as wide. If it didn't draw attention to him, then the surrounding people were blind.

Cid seemed to get the idea, eyeing both the sword and the spear in the same manner the ex-Solder had done before looking at his own clothes. Something told him that they weren't exactly going to be able to blend in with the natives.

Still, they left the alley being careful to walk down the street without being impeded by the civilians wandering about. Some of them stopped to stare at them in startled wonder. It was hard to conceal their presence with the weapons they bore, but they still pressed on, determined to show the strange villagers that they meant them no harm.

"Halt!"

Cloud and Cid both reflexively stopped at the sudden request (order) and turned to regard the speaker. Unlike the people wandering about, the man who had called them was wearing a strange kind of body armour he had never seen before. It was black in colour with what appeared to have been gold lining crossing in odd formations, as though the designer hadn't truly known what he was trying to do when fashioning the odd garment. He wore a helmet of the same material and design, the top of the head pointed as though it could've been used as some kind of weapon. Fastened to his left arm was a large shield that was roughly half the size of him and sheathed on the right hand side of the belt he wore was a sword.

And behind this man were two more people dressed like him, each with their hand on the hilt of their swords. Cloud frowned, not at all liking the feeling he was getting from their sudden appearance.

"State your name and business here," the leader of the group said stiffly. His voice was deep and filled with an authority that seemed to suggest he was always in a position of power. "You're not from around these parts, otherwise you would have known that it is forbidden for anyone apart from the royal guards to prowl the streets with concealed armaments."

Cloud's gaze flicked over towards the Buster Sword before returning to the guards in front of him. They must have spotted the gesture, because the two guards behind the leader withdrew their weapons from their sheaths. Instinctively Cloud sank into his battle stance, his right hand gripping the handle of his weapon. Beside him, he caught sight of Cid doing the same.

"I must advise that you relinquish your weapons to our custody by order of the King," the lead guard continued and the former Soldier operative frowned at the thought. That was unlikely to happen if he had any say about it.

When they made no move to comply with the request, the leader withdrew his own weapon with what amounted as a weary sigh. "If you prefer to resist, then we shall take them from your lifeless bodies."

"Ya hear that?" Cid laughed mirthlessly. "He thinks he can _kill _us and take 'em from us. Wanna show him how wrong he is?"

_Not particularly,_ Cloud mused to himself. If they started a fight then they were drawing unwanted attention towards themselves. They still didn't know where they were or what the locals were capable of, and not knowing anything about your adversary and fighting them anyway was stupid.

Unfortunately for the pair, they didn't exactly have a choice. The blonde swordsman heard movement from behind and when he flicked his gaze in the direction of the sound, he caught sight of more guards flanking them from behind. They couldn't have run even if they'd wanted to.

That left fighting as their only real option.

So nodding in response to Cid's question, he sank deeper into his fight stance, withdrawing the Buster Sword from its place along the metal plate on his back and holding it level in front of him, both hands gripping the handle tightly. Beside him, Cid swivelled the javelin in the air before twisting the object behind him, leaving his left hand free for spell casting.

Wordlessly, Cloud inclined his head forward, indicating that he would charge to the front while Cid took care of the guards behind them. Taking a puff from his cigarette, Cid nodded back before the two combatants pounced into action. The former Soldier charged forward, bringing his sword down in an underhand sweep and lashing out, catching the lead guard's weapon as he blocked the attack. Gritting his teeth, Cloud reversed the cleave, allowing his arms to spin behind him while he remained rooted to the spot as he swung in the opposite direction, only to be blocked once again.

Raising his boot clad foot, he thrust it forward, catching the metal of the enemy sword, but he pushed off with his other foot, taking to the air and knocking the guard down onto one knee. Collecting as much energy as he could gather, he raised the sword over his head and swung down, forcing him to spin vertically in the air as he unleashed his attack. He caught movement from below and watched as the guards jumped away from the blast as they split into three. The result left trench like scars across the ground beneath him.

Landing in a crouch, he pushed forward and the guards in front of him scrambled to their defensive positions. More than likely they had expected for him to need time to recover. He swung the massive sword once again, the lead guard ducking the attack while the one to the left of him blocked it with his own weapon. The remaining guard charged forward, preparing to attack the blonde fighter with an overhead cleave of his own.

Changing tactics, he brought the sword back around, causing the guarding man to lose his balance and lean forward. Bringing the sword up in front of him in a horizontal position, he pushed his weight upward as metal clashed against metal. Cloud threw the rest of his weight against the sword, and over-balanced the other fighter but felt his feet suddenly fly out from underneath him as something hard knocked into his legs. Landing awkwardly along the small of his back, he turned the fall into a tight roll as he moved away and frowned as he realized that one of the guards had gotten past his blind spot.

Irritation clawed from his throat in the form of a small grunt and he raised his hands in front of him so that the palms were touching. If physical attacks weren't going to cut it, then he would have to play the role of a ranged fighter. Concentrating on the stock of materia he had junctioned to his arm, he threw his arms out and watched as the ground lit up with electrical energy. The bolt spell blasted apart the ground, surrounding the guards baring his path in its electrifying wake and knocking them off their feet.

"Cid! Let's go!" Cloud shouted.

The pilot looked back towards the former Soldier and noted that a path had been cleared. Sweeping the javelin in front of him to stave off the remaining guards, he turned around and high-tailed it past Cloud, who quickly covered him by launching fire spells at the pursuing guards. Not sticking around to see if the attacks landed, he pelted off after the former astronaut, their feet making hard thuds as they sped their way through the crowds surrounding them.

His senses having been enhanced by exposure to Mako energy, Cloud cursed as he heard the guards beginning to recover behind, but barely had enough time to shout out a warning for Cid when he spotted more of the armour clad warriors jumping into the fray. With a loud curse, the cigarette smoking fighter bounded up the side of a building and used the surface to propel himself over the enemy guards. Thinking quickly, Cloud unsheathed the Buster sword and slashed forward. The guards reacted quickly. Two of them dodged back while the closest one ducked the blow, only to have his feet swept out from beneath him by Cid's javelin.

Smirking, Cid swivelled the weapon in front of him once again much like one would if he were wielding a quarterstaff, and managed to parry an attacking guard's sword swipes, the bladed weapon clanking against the steel spear loudly. With a flick of the wrist, Cid had the weapon raised up over his head as he disarmed the guard before he spun the weapon around and nailed the unsuspecting man in the stomach, knocking him into the side of the building. Following the elder man's suit, Cloud ran up the side of the building and lunged forward, landing in a crouch behind the enemy guards before they took to running once again.

Somewhere off in the distance, a loud klaxon sounded. The swordsman realised that their enemies were calling for reinforcements and he uttered a soft curse in disgust.

Catching sight of a group of guards advancing towards them from the opposite direction, Cloud guided Cid to follow him as he manoeuvred left. He didn't know where he was headed, but he knew against the number – which was enough to form a small platoon of Shinra infantrymen – they wouldn't last long.

But turning left proved to have been a mistake. More advancing guards were headed their way, pushing past the townsfolk in their haste to reach them. Both fighters skidded to a stop before turning around to see the guards behind them were quickly closing the gap between them.

"This way!" Cid shouted and this time it was the swordsman who followed the pilot down the road as they evaded their pursuers.

Something was bothering Cloud about the guards. They had swords and shields, but why did they have no guns? Not that he was complaining about their sudden good luck, but he found it strange that they weren't opening fire from a distance instead of attempting to close the distance and strike them down the way they were. It occurred to him that perhaps they weren't armed with long distance weapons like that, but he couldn't help but question why.

The only answer that made any sense was that they didn't have access to them, but Cloud couldn't understand how that was even possible.

Focusing his attention towards running, he was forced to stop abruptly when Cid whirled around, javelin in his left hand with his right hand extended in front of him. "What are you doing?"

"Makin' this quick!" Cid shouted back and Cloud recognised the red energy that frothed along the pilot's fingertips; it wasn't the standard magic that came with an ordinary spell. He had seen the magical mist before in their travels three years ago, and the thought wasn't altogether very pleasant.

Cid was summoning.

As much as a summon would give them the necessary time to escape, the chances of innocent bystanders getting hurt in the crossfire were astronomical, but before he could shout for the older man to stop, it was too late. The magical energy shot out in front of the pilot, quickly closing the distance between the two sides, however instead of unleashing its radical energy against the advancing troops, the blast collided with the group, staining the affected area an array of reds and blacks that weren't altogether normal.

Through the colourful stream, a clawed hand pawed its way out from beneath the hole that had formed out of nowhere, followed by another before a mean looking creature with horns protruding from the top of its head rose up into the air, landing in front of the hole and snorting white steam from either of its nostrils. Its skin was a chalky yellow, and fire frothed from inside of its mouth, with long brown horns curved back behind its head.

At Ifrit's sudden appearance, the guards stopped their advancement. Someone shouted something about sorcery before they began to withdraw, however by then the fire summon began its charge, blasting forward inside of a shield of fire that scorched the ground as it progressed.

"You could have hurt someone!" Cloud shouted, well aware of how stupid he sounded. "Any one of the civilians could have jumped into the crossfire and taken the hit instead. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinkin' about saving our hides from those jackasses," Cid bit back heatedly. There was a bit of defensiveness in the tone as well. "'Sides, someone shouted for me to summon _somethin'_."

"What?" Cloud blinked in confusion. He hadn't heard anyone shout anything. "What did it sound like?"

"Hard to explain," Cid said with a shrug. "Some old guy's voice, I'd reckon. But do ya honestly think that _now's _the best time ta yammer on about it?"

Before Cloud could answer, more guards emerged from another pathway and with a curse they were forced back towards the way they'd come. The walls from the surrounding buildings were scorched by Ifrit's attack, and the guards who had suffered from it were laying splayed out on the ground. Unfortunately they had been replaced by more advancing guards, their weapons primed in their direction.

Standing back to back against one another, Cloud frowned as he tried to figure out a means out of this one…

* * *

When he caught the familiar sight of the fire elemental, he had rushed over in that very direction without another moment's thought.

His first thought when he'd watched the Aeon suddenly appear out of nowhere had been that Yuna was somewhere nearby, and that she'd summoned the Aeon because she was in danger, but as he continued to make his way to the very location he was headed, he started to doubt the logic. When Yu Yevon had been defeated, the Fayth had stopped dreaming and it had caused all the Aeons to disappear from Spira forever.

That made his very existence a little more complicated. He was a dream created by the Fayth after all, so in all honesty he really shouldn't exist to begin with.

Yuna had tried to explain it to him when he'd found himself drifting along the beach of Besaid once again and he'd managed to grasp the gist of it. By saving all of Spira from the shadow Shuyin and stopping the reactivation of some ancient Machina called 'Vegnagun', the Fayth had granted Yuna one wish as a token of thanks. And somehow, that had brought him back to life.

It wasn't that he was complaining. He just didn't understand it.

Ever since his return, he'd joined the travelling Sphere Hunters that the former Summoner had become a part of in his absence called the Gullwings, and together they collected spheres just for the fun of it. It was kind of like treasure hunting, really. And after each and every successful hunt, the Gullwings would celebrate in what could only be described as the Gullwing's style of partying.

Or maybe it was just Rikku's brand of partying. He knew he shouldn't have let her convince him to have another drink.

It wasn't that he was a lightweight when it came to drinking. He'd gone drinking with his team-mates back in Zanarkand after Blitzball games every so often before heading back to his motor-boat home. But he was surprised at just how much the concentration count had changed over the years. Spira liquor was almost ten times more potent than anything he'd ever tried before he'd been hauled off to Spira by Sin.

Then again, he _was _a thousand years older than everyone else. Maybe he was just old fashioned that way.

Still, he knew he definitely wasn't a lightweight, but he couldn't wrap his head around what had happened after he'd had that last drink. And the very thought had been in the back of his mind, surfacing to the forefront ever since he woke up in this strange place. He supposed that Shinra, who was too young to drink, had gotten a laugh at his expense for the evenings antics and had, at first, believed he'd been ditched along the coast of Besaid again. But not having seen an ocean anywhere around the vicinity and realizing the strangeness of his surroundings (well, stranger than Spira was to him at least) told him that he was somewhere entirely different.

So as he'd wandered around in search of any clues that would tell him just what the hell had happened, he mused at the thought that he had been carted away from Spira like he had from Zanarkand, but that wasn't possible since they'd defeated Sin once and for all. Yuna's calm was supposed to be eternal, especially since Yu Yevon couldn't exactly take control of another Aeon like he had for the last thousand years he'd been around.

Focusing his thoughts on the task at hand now, he ran around the corner, using the speed and agility he had acquired from years of playing Blitzball to power on through the crowds and scale the sides of buildings when he couldn't get around the throngs of people. They were dressed kind of funnily as well. They wore cloaks that were unlike the robes most people wore in Spira. They were more modest looking for a lack of a better term, but he didn't allow the thought to distract him.

Besides, he couldn't exactly claim not to stand out in contrast. The vest he had been wearing for the better part of Yuna's pilgrimage (who was he kidding. He never changed out of the thing) was bright yellow and easy to spot against the crowd of people surrounding him. His pants were mismatched lengths, his left pant leg was attached to the rest of the bottoms by a zipper that wrapped around the bottom while the other was missing said attachment, and the top had suspenders that wrapped around his shoulders. His shoes were a light brown colour with a black trim around the toe and the sole of the foot and all along his left arm was a glove made of intermeshing pieces of leather. His right hand was simply protected by a black glove.

He rounded another corner before ducking back just as quickly. There were a group of people wearing some kind of strange armour across the way from where he was, but their attention looked like it was fixated elsewhere. Tidus supposed that it could very well have been the cause of Ifrit's sudden appearance. There had been other Summoners taking part on the pilgrimage to defeat Sin, and they all seemed to be able to summon the same Aeons as each other, so it wasn't that big of a shock. But even now, he realised he'd noticed something off about the fire Aeon. Its skin had been a greenish yellow instead of the reddish fur that had covered it, and for some reason it also looked somewhat smaller than what he remembered it being.

Deciding he would look into that fact later, Tidus looked around for anything he could use as a projectile. Attached to his hip was the brotherhood sword he had gotten from Wakka when the pair had first met. Of course, Wakka had only given it to him because he'd looked a lot like his younger brother, Chappu, who had died during a Crusader operation. Nevertheless, both Blitzballers were good friends as a result.

But he was hesitant in using the weapon. For starters, there wasn't anyone around to back him up if he needed it, but most importantly, he hadn't used the weapon since that last fight against Yu Yevon. As far as he knew, Yuna was using it with her Warrior Dressphere (a concept the former Summoner had tried to explain to the Blitzballer, but he still had trouble understanding it), so the fact that _he _had it was a mystery, since he hadn't exactly used a weapon since he'd come back to life.

He found something alright. To his right there was a fruit vendor, and closest to him was a whole stack of apples – not very big, or anything like that, but it would have to do. Lulu and Yuna weren't there to cast any of their spells to distract the goons from whatever they were fixated on, and he'd never exactly learned how to utilise the energy that formed those kind of spells anyway, insisting on jumping into the fray with his sword and chopping away at any obstacles that got in their way.

He reached forward and grabbed a handful of the fruit (much to the shop owner's displeasure – if shouting at him to pay for it was any indication) and, with his right hand, he threw them as though he were throwing rocks. The apples hit their mark. One of the guard goons got hit in the side of the head and another, who had been turning to investigate where the flying projectile had come from, got one right in the face. Within the next thirty seconds, the goons all had their attention turned to the Blitzballer, who found that he was suddenly very hard pressed to figure out what his next move was.

_Smooth…_ he thought to himself sarcastically before grabbing the brotherhood and adjusting the small shield along his arm. The blue blade seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, almost as though it was made out of water, and had a hook at the end that was really good for catching monsters.

"There's another one!" one of the goons shouted. Before Tidus could question the comment, they were suddenly charging towards him.

Thinking quickly, Tidus leapt up against the side of an adjacent building and ran along it for a moment before pushing himself away from the surface. As a result he landed on the shoulders of one of the nearby goons. The two in front of their comrade swung forward and, despite the poor goon's protests, he was cut down just as Tidus propelled himself up and away, landing on the next closest goon and continuing the pattern. Unfortunately for him, they caught on quickly, because before he could use another guy as a stepping stone, that goon jumped, his sword raised and ready to cleave him in half.

Bringing up the brotherhood, he managed to hold up the weapon into a hasty block, resulting in both fighters being propelled back. The goon landed in the opening of an alley while Tidus found himself crouching along the wall behind him. Just before gravity could take over, Tidus propelled himself forward once again, the brotherhood brought up in front of him in an attempted cleave, but he was forced to abort the charge when another goon tried to attack him from the side. He barely touched the ground before he propelled himself away from his new attacker and the cleave that was aimed at his side went wide.

He landed and was about the leap forward again when a blast of magic surged from beyond the alleyway, catching the goons off target. From the looks of it, it was some kind of thunder spell and the three goons who got caught up in it were propelled up off the ground and into the wall Tidus had used as a landing post earlier. They hit the ground with a dull thud but did not stir.

Then, out from the alleyway emerged two people he had never seen before, and yet they looked even stranger than him. The first guy was blonde with crazy looking spiky hair and dressed completely in black. Attached to his back was the biggest sword he had ever seen before in his life, and atop his head were a pair of angled goggles that reminded the Blitzballer of the Al Bhed.

The other person who ran out after him was also blonde, but his hair was cropped really short. He had simpler looking clothes on – a t-shirt and a pair of pants – and a sweater-like jacket was wrapped around his waist. Like the first guy, he wore goggles but they looked more like something you would wear if you were flying some kind of aircraft. In the corner of his mouth was a cigarette that billowed a small trail of smoke along as the man passed him by and in his hand was a trident that made him think about Kihmari.

"Don't just stand there gawkin'! Move!" The smoking blonde snapped in his direction. Tidus didn't need to be told twice and he took off after them.

The guy at the front did a great job of clearing a path for them. By the time he and the pilot looking guy got to the groups of people they were already out of their way. The guy with the huge sword was surprisingly quick considering how heavy the object looked against his back, but decided that he could save the questions for later. Right now they had to lose their fan club.

"So what's going on?" Tidus asked through huffs of breath before turning his attention behind him. The goons were still chasing after them. Fortunately the distance between them was significant. If they kept up the pace they would lose them soon enough. "Where are we? What'd you guys do to piss them off that much?"

"Will you shut yer goddamned trap?" The pilot guy shot back at him and he was caught off guard by the sudden order. Sure, Kihmari had told him plenty of times to shut up during the pilgrimage but the Ronso had at least been nicer about it, if only a little.

They followed the swordsmen up ahead as he turned a corner. As soon as they did, Tidus gasped loudly as everyone skidded to a stop. He barely managed to avoid knocking into the swordsman, who turned out to be a little shorter than him by maybe a couple of inches. Wondering what the hold up was, he looked past the swordsman and gulped when he spotted a cloaked figure was standing in the middle of their pathway. He couldn't make much out from his appearance since the damned thing covered him almost completely. Even his face was hidden from view, but the clothes definitely looked in place with everyone else in this strange city.

Shouts from behind told him the goons were getting closer, and he wanted to say something that would make them all move again. He didn't really like how the cloaked guy's hands were positioned because it reminded him of when Seymour was preparing to blast them with spells.

The two guys he was with didn't wait for him to attack them though. Raising their hands they threw spells out towards him and Tidus watched as thunder and fire pelted towards the stranger, quickly closing the distance between them. The cloaked stranger positioned his arms in front of him before a bluish-green shield materialized in front of him and the spells blasted into it, changing the shields colour before the magic started to circulate around the guys hands.

Tidus swallowed the hard lump that had formed in his throat at the sight. He hadn't expected this guy to know the reflect spell. _None_ of the other goons they'd faced off against seemed to.

However, just as the guy was preparing to throw their spells back in their direction, he shouted something at them that made the situation seem different than what it looked like. "Duck!"

Tidus wasted no time in following the advice and, using the quick reflexes he honed during tournament games, he pushed the other two guys into the ground and felt the magic pelt over his head, just barely managing to avoid singing his vest and suspenders. Curious, he looked around and watched as the spells collided into the goons who were just turning the corner. The first flank ate the spell full force before falling back, tripping up the goons that were behind.

"Run!" The cloaked figure shouted.

Not asking questions, Tidus jumped up onto his feet and did as told, running passed the cloaked fighter. The other two blondes were more hesitant to follow, but the sound of pounding footfalls from behind told him they were in pursuit. Another glance told him the cloaked figure was running with them now.

As they continued to run down the street passing by civilians as they did, the other three managed to catch up to him. Unfortunately – if the shouts from behind were any indication – the guards were closing the distance as well. Then, the blonde swordsman whirled around pressed his hands into the ground. About two seconds later, ice flared from beneath his splayed fingers and streaked a path right for the goons who slipped on the slippery surface and fell on their asses. The blonde with the cigarette threw out his hand and a blast of fire knocked down the ones who had managed to stay their ground and the cloaked guy slammed his foot onto the icy ground. The next thing Tidus knew, there was electric energy protruding from the foot and it caught everyone who was standing on the ice regardless of their position. When the electricity stopped, they all fell down.

"Keep running," the cloaked figure said and, before anyone could question him, he sped off past Tidus (who had stopped to watch the magic attacks) and continued to run down the street. Shrugging at the other two who exchanged glances, Tidus followed after him, and soon all four of them were running again.

Looking up ahead, he caught movement from the left and lunged forward, tackling one of the goons who had jumped out to intercept the cloaked guy, which forced them both onto the ground. Looking down the path the goon had come from, he caught sight of more of them advancing. The cloaked guy wasted no time in raising his hands and throwing blasts of fire and ice in their direction. The ice spears that blasted out of the ground caught them and stopped their charges long enough for the blasts of fire to pelt them. Without even saying anything to one another, Tidus and the cloaked guy continued on ahead. The steady footfalls behind told him that the two blonde guys were in hot pursuit.

But then the cloaked guy stopped and looked around, as though he was looking for something. "What's the hold up?"

Ignoring Tidus' question, the guy in black continued his survey before he turned to his left. Tidus looked that way as well. There was another alleyway beyond that path. He didn't doubt that it led to a dead end.

But it was a surprise when the cloaked guy inclined his head in that direction. "That way."

"_That way_ is a dead end," Tidus countered. He looked around and saw two alternate pathways further head. They forked towards the left and right respectively. "If we go further up ahead…"

"There are guards coming in from that direction," the cloaked person cut in. Tidus frowned and went to say something but again he was cut off. "Don't ask me how I know it, but we should go _this_ way."

And he started off down the alleyway before Tidus could stop him.

"Where'd that guy go?" The blonde pilot shouted as he and the swordsman caught up to him. Tidus pointed down the alleyway, but just as he had turned back he watched in almost shocked wonderment as the guy just kind of passed through the wall, disappearing as though he had never even been there to begin with.

"Uh… you're not gonna believe this but he just kinda ran into a wall."

"He did?" The pilot asked before taking a look inside the alleyway. Predictably, he found nothing there and he turned his scowl towards the Blitzballer. "Quit pullin' my leg. Now's not the time for a comedian."

"But I'm telling you, he jumped right into that wall!"

"So why ain't he sprawled out onto his back like some retard who walked into a door?"

"Because he kinda went _through _it."

The look on the pilot's face darkened. Something Tidus didn't see as a good sign. "Now you just think I'm stupid. How in the name of the lifestream is he supposed to have pulled that trick out of his ass?"

Tidus didn't know what a lifestream was, but he guessed that now was not the time to ask that kind of question. "Well, he can use magic like you guys, right? Maybe he's some kind of spell caster. I've seen stranger things than this…"

His first thought was that the guy was an unsent. Unsent were beings who died but were clinging onto life so tightly that they could assume spectral form and blend in with other people. Auron had been one for ten years and no one had known until Yuna's pilgrimage had ended, and Seymour had become one when he'd tried to take them all on in the temple in Macalania. But he doubted either of them would believe him if he tried to tell them that.

But just before the pilot could bark out more questions, the swordsman looked up almost in shock, his eyes having gone wide. Tidus looked in that direction and almost smiled victoriously as the cloaked guy reappeared from the wall. Or at least half of him did. It almost looked like he was caught in-between the surface.

The pilot dropped Tidus in his shock, though the Blitzballer was quick enough to recover so that he didn't fall on his ass, despite being the tallest one of the three.

"If you wait any longer, the guards are going to catch you," the cloaked guy said. It sounded like he was annoyed at them. Either way, he ducked back through the wall, disappearing as quickly as he had reappeared.

Exchanging glances between one another, Tidus shrugged in an 'I-told-you-so' gesture before the trio quickly moved into the alleyway and approached the wall. The swordsman pressed his hand against the wall before removing it just as quickly. "It feels like water…" he said aloud. "No… More like a wall of magic."

"Is it safe?" the pilot barked out and the swordsman examined his hands. Looking over his shoulder, Tidus saw that there wasn't even a blemish in the material of his gloves.

"Seems like it," the swordsman commented with a nod.

There was a shout from behind. It seemed as though the guards were starting to reach their location. It was now or never. "So what're we waiting for?" Tidus asked.

No one answered the question and, without another moments thought, the trio passed through the wall. The swordsman was right, it didn't feel solid at all, but there was some kind of resistance in it as they passed through it, almost like they were suddenly underwater.

Unlike the other two, Tidus had no problem with treading through the stuff and soon they reached the other side. It felt like he had just been pushed out from inside of a vacuum and, losing his balance, he fell face first into the ground. The other two faired about the same.

Looking around, Tidus realised they were in some strange boxed location. The floor was the same as it was outside, but the walls shimmered around them. In the sides left and right of them, the people looked as though they were going about their business, totally oblivious to their presence. It was like they almost couldn't see them. Looking behind them, Tidus caught sight of the guards moving past their location, like they didn't even realise they were there.

"Oh yeah!" Tidus shouted triumphantly as the guards milled about, no doubt confused at their sudden disappearing act.

"About time," a voice from behind sounded. Turning around Tidus recognised the cloaked figure standing on the opposite side of the room. "Maybe now I can finally…"

What he could finally do was lost on Tidus. The blonde smoker suddenly rose to his feet with a growl and, grabbing the front of the other guy's cloak, shoved him into the wall behind. Tidus was surprised when the pair didn't pass through it and figured that maybe that was the wall that was supposed to end the alley.

The swordsman rose to his feet, having seen his companion charge forward, but his shout for him to stop had fallen upon deaf ears. Tidus was just as anxious to stop the dispute before it started. They still didn't even know where they were and he had been hoping the cloaked guy could fill them in. Now he wasn't even sure he would want to.

"If ya mean tell us what the hell's goin' on, then yer on the right track," the pilot snapped. The cloaked guy was probably stunned from the sudden impact with the wall. Tidus' thoughts were confirmed when he caught the small movement of the head, as though he were shaking the stars from his vision. "So start talkin'. Where the _hell _are we and how the _hell _didja bring us here?"

"I didn't _bring_ anyone _anywhere_," the cloaked guy said through a groan.

"Bullshit," the pilot snapped. "You knew where to go and how to get there and… GOD_DAMMIT_!"

He broke off his tirade with the curse when the cloaked guy reached up and planted his hands on the pilot's wrists. The pilot dropped him as though he'd come into contact with something hot and Tidus was surprised to see smoke flowing from where the hands had touched him.

"To hell with this," the cloaked man said, sounding angry. "I'm out of here. You can fend for yourselves for all I care."

"Wait a minute!" Tidus said, jumping into the cloaked man's path to try and stop him. Behind him, the other guy stood over the pilot, inspecting his arms from whatever it was the cloaked guy did to him.

But the cloaked guy didn't seem to want to wait. He threw his arm forward and fire flew from his outstretched palm. Tidus brought the shield up in front of him, watching as the spell was absorbed into it instead of hurting him. The Blitzballer wasn't surprised by this, remembering how Rikku had added components to the otherwise simple looking shield to make it absorb fire.

The cloaked guy was surprised though, and it was enough for a blast of thunder to hit him from behind, causing him to fall onto his knees from the sudden attack. Both he and Tidus looked in the direction to see the swordsman had assumed a casting stance while the pilot was cursing as he applied something to his wrists.

The cloaked guy threw his arm out to cast a spell of his own, but Tidus had other ideas. Wanting to stop the fighting before it escalated too far, he grabbed the cloaked person from behind, his arms cutting in beneath the other guy's underarms and stretching up in a locking position. The guy's concentration was shot from the sudden manoeuvre and the magic fell away from his fingers before the cloaked guy started trying to loosen Tidus' grip. The Blitzballer was surprised to find that the manoeuvre was working and in a second, he found he was being flipped through the air and onto his back.

Refusing to let go even as the air got knocked out of him, Tidus quickly grabbed a hold of the guy and used the momentum to pull down, countering the move and pulling him down with him. Unfortunately, he hadn't judged the landing very well and the cloaked guy ended up falling on top of him, causing the athlete to wince and wheeze at the sudden collision as he lost whatever air he had managed to gather.

A moment later, that weight was lifted from him and he looked up to see the swordsman had grabbed the cloaked guy from behind. The latter's arms were pressed down at either side as the former had him trapped in a pin. It was much more effective than the full nelson Tidus had tried to execute. Just as the guy continued to struggle however, Tidus heard footfalls and barely had time to turn to the direction as the pilot came running up, hauling off and slamming a right hook into the cloaked guy's face. The blonde smoker cried out in pain suddenly, the cigarette that had been hanging from the side of his mouth fell to the ground beneath his feet as he cradled his hand like he'd just punched a slab of stone. He was cursing in a blue streak he hadn't heard since before he had been taken to Spira from Zanarkand.

The cloaked guy didn't get away unscathed. Almost like he was in a daze, he crumpled against the swordsman and stopped his struggles, the hood of the cloak flying off of his head and giving them a better look of his features. Tidus was shocked to find that the guy looked to be around his age; unlike the three of them however, he had dark hair that fell into his face, but it didn't hide the ugly scar that ran diagonally between the bridge of his nose.

However, before anyone could react, a bright light shone up from beneath their feet; looking down, Tidus saw to his surprise that the ground was glowing. He didn't need to tell the others because they saw it too and before anyone could say anything, the light blinded them before they were suddenly falling…


	2. Decisive

**Chapter II:  
Decisive**

* * *

When he had first awoken in this strange world, the first thing that he had felt was confusion. That was understandable, since the last thing he remembered doing had been filing away paperwork.

Once things had settled down after the third Sorceress' war had been concluded, there was very little for anyone to do, least of all for SeeD. Mercenaries weren't exactly needed in a world that was tipping towards peace after all. When the war ended, the government leaders had gotten together and formed a world unity act. That power put pressure on the Galbadian administration to reduce the length of its borders and to restore power to the original nations it had taken over as punishment for their war crimes. Measures were currently being set in place that would threaten Galbadia's stability should they attempt to reclaim their lost territory.

Which meant that SeeD could not disband. They would be needed to further fuel the threat of retaliation should that day come to pass. Unfortunately, that left very little for SeeD to do until that time came.

But that didn't mean there wasn't the occasional skirmish or two that needed to be resolved by a neutral party. Galbadia was behaving itself nicely, but everyone else seemed to be at each others throats almost constantly, wanting more land and attempting to divvy up territories of countries who also wanted to extend their borders further. More than once SeeD had been called to mediate, but it was becoming very clear that there were lines that needed to be drawn in order to stop the constant power struggle. Esthar – the single largest country in the world since the Lunar Cry had destroyed the Centran civilization eighty years ago – looked like it was going to be split into three separate nations do to internal disputes, and the (admittedly small) council in Trabia wasn't taking well to the fact that those three nations were already dividing the arctic country into parts for them to take over.

Each conflict needed steady mediation. The mediators were required to be neutral in order to come to a fair resolution. Being the only real group in the world who didn't gain anything when all was said and done, Garden would be called and SeeD would be dispatched, with the problems usually being rectified.

But at the end of the day, all of those actions – the planning, transportation, mission briefing and salaries of the SeeD members involved – resulted in paperwork. A _lot_ of paperwork.

And Squall Leonhart was fast becoming aware of just how much he _hated _paperwork. Regardless of how much he preferred the time of peace that final battle against Ultimecia had given them all to the hectic and chaotic time of war, he really couldn't stand filling out file after file each and every damned day.

He'd signed up to be a mercenary, not to have a white-collar job that consisted of being behind a damned desk all day long.

To say he had been relieved to escape the stacks of files that were waiting on his desk would have been a gross understatement. He was as close to elation as anyone with his disposition could possibly attain. But he was still very concerned about his predicament. Because he was fairly certain he didn't sleepwalk, the thought having run away from the Garden while in a deep sleep was not even worthy of thought in the vast list of reasons why he was even here in the first place.

Then again, he'd never even _been _here before. The city that he seemed to have wound up in seemed to have been built within a desert. Squall had been to both deserts before, and neither one had had any towns or villages, let alone _cities_, built within their sands. Unless of course there was a desert he had yet to explore, but he was quite certain that that was not the case.

Upon discovering that his appearance didn't exactly allow him blend into his surroundings, he'd kept to the alley in search of something that would make him look less foreign and conspicuous. The added knowledge that his weapon wasn't exactly practical looking either made him all the more desperate to hide himself within the civilians. The last thing he needed was to stir up any trouble while not knowing what he had gotten himself into in the first place.

After a while of scouting and taking in the passer-bys, he'd finally found some important looking person and had tailed the man all the way to a local tavern, where he'd discarded his cloak in the doorway and had mingled with the people inside. Acting quickly, the SeeD had walked passed the door, grabbed the cloak, pulled it on over his own clothes and had continued on by without having to stop or missing a step.

The man had been none the wiser.

He had explored the city for a while after that, cataloguing locations and the position of the guards that stood at what had seemed to have been random intervals throughout the streets until he'd reached the exit, and he had been shocked to find that there was no way out. At least, none where anyone would survive of course.

It was because the city was _floating_.

He didn't understand how, but the city was so high up, he could barely make out anything underneath the cloud cover. It reminded him of the Garden's antigravity mechanism that allowed it to hover over water, but even _that_ didn't leave the ground by as far. The mechanism that powered the city must've been at least a hundred times more powerful if not more so.

Leaving the gates that should have led out of the city, he had continued to explore when a sound like a miniature explosion had burst further into the metropolis without warning. He'd turned in the direction to investigate, and he had been shocked to see Ifrit storming about in the air before the Fire Guardian had disappeared from view altogether.

He had been tempted to investigate further, but had brushed the thought away almost as quickly as the idea had made itself known. Whatever that thing was it hadn't been Ifrit. From the brief look he'd gotten from it, its skin was a different colour and it didn't look nearly as big. It was definitely similar, maybe even a relative (if Guardian Forces had relatives of course – the Brothers were one example that they could, but one never knew). Furthermore, whatever conflict was going on, it was none of his business. He didn't know who'd summoned the Guardian Force, or what kind of trouble they'd stumbled upon, but he wanted to keep from drawing any attention to himself. If he got involved, there was a chance that he would be classed as accomplices to the guilty party, and that would make things even more complicated than they already were.

So he had turned away from the sight and continued his survey of the city.

That hadn't lasted long unfortunately. One of the guards who he had passed must have spotted his weapon somehow, because he had been stopped and asked to relinquish it. Being in unknown territory without a weapon was not an idea that suited the SeeD at all and, as a result, he had been forced to defend himself from the guard and his partner off before they could call for reinforcements. Once they had been dealt with, he had left the area as quickly as he could, keeping his head down with the intention of disappearing within the crowd.

Unfortunately, it wasn't very long before the rest of the guards noticed their two missing comrades and eventually they had caught up to him. He'd been forced to evade their attacks and had escaped onto a nearby roof before a strange man's voice had come from out of nowhere, telling him that he needed to move. At first he'd thought he'd lost his mind, but after a bit of coaxing he'd moved from his post and into an adjacent alleyway, only to find that very spot was converged upon a little while later.

Deciding that this was, somehow, a good thing, he had listened to the voice as it had guided him away from the guards before it told him that he needed to find three people and direct them to safety. He had been hesitant until the voice had made the offer to explain to him just what the hell was going on.

Finding the trio had been easy since it turned out they were the ones responsible for the Ifrit summoning earlier (or so he assumed they were). There had been guards following them down the street before he'd intervened and taken them to the alleyway that he had been directed to do so.

And then the ungrateful assholes had attacked him.

No matter how much he'd wanted to know why he was suddenly in this strange world, Squall was not about to put up with people who immediately assumed the worse from him just because he _happened_ to know which way they could go in order to evade the guards. They made for lousy comrades, always believing they knew the situation when they only saw it from one angle and needed to investigate it a little more. Those were the kinds of people who got their comrades killed in combat, and with his track record lately, he wasn't willing to stick around long enough to see that happen.

Unfortunately, before he could go anywhere the next thing he knew they were falling through a hole that had formed out of the ground beneath them. Then he found himself slamming into something hard before something _else _landed on top of him. Groaning as he tried to draw air into his lungs, he coughed loudly as he took a look at their surroundings. It was dark, almost impossibly so with the only light that filled them being from the shimmering ceiling above their heads. It was like whatever substance made the walls easy to walk through had seeped into the ground.

He should have seen that coming.

The blonde guy with the strange shield had hit the ground as well and was currently wincing and rubbing at his arm. The other two had landed right on top of the pair. Squall heard them groan and had to wonder what they had to complain about since they didn't have people sitting awkwardly on top of _them_.

The other three looked around at their surroundings as well. Judging from the expressions on their faces they faired off just as well as he had, even with junctions.

"Where are we?" The one with the shield asked, his voice echoed back to them. This told him that the room was empty.

"Dunno," the asshole with the cigarette said with a grunt before he shifted. Squall winced as he accidentally applied pressure to a rib. "Hey cloaked man, you feel like tellin' us where in hell's name we are?"

_Why does everyone think _I_ have all the answers,_ Squall thought to himself irritably before forcing himself up. The guy with the cigarette made a startled noise before the SeeD hoisted himself up the rest of the way. A dull thud told him he'd successfully pushed the asshole off of him, and he couldn't help the smirk from crossing his features before he pushed it back as he pulled himself up onto his feet. "What makes you think _I_ would know?"

"You _did_ lead us here," the other guy said. He'd been quiet up until this point.

Squall threw a glare in his direction. "Well I _don't_."

A quick intake of breath told him the asshole with the cigarette was about to say something, and the SeeD resisted the urge to kick him before he could. However, a very familiar sounding voice filled the air, preventing his rebuttal. "Perhaps you should listen to him. He speaks the truth."

Squall looked around for the source of the voice. It was the very one that had led him to the three blondes in the first place, but this time it sounded like it was coming from a specific direction rather than all around him. While the others looked around in search of the source, Squall concentrated on the very direction the sound was coming from. Whoever the voice belonged to was coming closer towards them.

He caught movement from nearby and noticed that the blonde with the sword on his back had caught the footfalls as well. It took the other two a little while longer to realize that something was coming and he frowned slightly in contemplation. He wasn't about to jump to conclusions, but something seemed off about the quiet blonde.

The speaker was close enough for the SeeD to be able to make out his silhouette. He was very tall wearing robes that looked strange even considering the civilian way of dress. But when he stepped into the light, he realized just _how_ strange. The man was very old. There was something around the eyes that told Squall this, and his shoulder length white hair further added to the detail. The strange robes he wore were a brilliant white in colour, and in his left hand was a wooden staff that he seemed to be using to propel himself along. Long pointed ears poked out from behind the white locks of hair. One of the ears had three hoop earrings along the base. To top it off, there was this aura around him, one that seemed to suggest that this strange looking man knew much more than any of them could ever comprehend.

"It is good to see that you have all come relatively safe and sound," he spoke. The voice was calm and patient like it had been when the SeeD had first heard it in his head. "And I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you all. The spell was completed far quicker than I had anticipated, and as such you ended up separated before I could determine your ultimate destination."

"So _you_ were the one who brought us here?" the blonde with the shield asked in shock.

The strange man shook his head. "That is only half accurate. While I manipulated the spell to ensure your arrival, I am not the one who cast it. I had hoped to bring you all to this place without the drawing the attention of the guards outside for an element of surprise, but it is unfortunate that we slipped up on our end. That will make what we are trying to accomplish all the more difficult."

Squall frowned suddenly. He knew the man was simply beating around the bush. "You said that if I found the others and brought them here I'd get answers."

The man remained calm despite the hostility in the SeeD's voice. "And so you will."

"So why are we here in the first place?"

The strange man closed his eyes in a sigh before opening them again as the SeeD continued. "You said there was some kind of spell that had been cast. What was the purpose for bringing us here?"

"To answer your first question adequately," the man started; he sounded like a grandfather talking to an overeager grandchild at some playground, "I shall skip it entirely and proceed with your second. This must be done in order for you all to have a clear understanding of what has happened. I bid you patience, Squall Leonhart of SeeD, and hope that the answers will be acceptable to your expectations."

Squall gasped lightly, wondering how the hell this guy knew his name. Could it have been some kind of after affect of speaking to him in his head? Whatever the case, this guy was definitely not normal and Squall backed up a step. Behind him, he heard the asshole with the cigarette snort and he turned to glare in the man's direction. He took no notice.

"As I have said, the spell that was cast to bring you here was not done so by myself. In fact, your presence was not even its desired result. _That, _again, was my doing. The man who cast the spell originally is the King of this city. By casting this spell, it is my belief that he had hoped to acquire powerful fighters for the purpose of further fuelling the army he is gathering."

"Why'd he wanna do that?" The blonde with the shield asked curiously.

"Why would any man wish to acquire an army?" the man asked patiently instead of answering.

"War," the blonde with the sword answered for him. The strange man smiled.

"That is exactly right, Cloud Strife of Nibelheim."

Squall's frown deepened. Either the other fighter had also been spoken to through some kind of telepathy, or this man already knew who each of them were. That had to mean it was no coincidence that the four of them had been brought to this world.

"The King is named Marcus Dominic Zeke Valbryn," the old man continued. "He comes from a long line of kings, and is the ninth one to possess the name. He is selfish, ambitious and starved for power. This city is not enough control for him, and he seeks to use his army to decimate the other nations and rebuild them in his own image."

"So it's the basic take-over-the-world scheme you see in the movies," the blonde with the shield mused aloud. "The name's Tidus, by the way," he said before the old man could add anything to that. In response, the old man smiled lightly.

"You _still_ haven't told us why we've been brought here," Squall interrupted with a sigh.

"In due time," the old man responded calmly. Frown deepening all the more, Squall folded his arms across his chest in his impatience. "Valbryn has conscripted many men and women in the city to join his ranks, and as such the people rebelled, forming a resistance. The goal is to overthrow him and reclaim the crown for the people.

"But because he lacks the numbers to take his battle to the other nations, Valbryn must have decided to conscript other forces from other worlds. My men, unfortunately, only realized what he was planning just before the spell was cast, and I was only able to tap into it for a small duration before it ended. That is why the four of you ended up separated and had to find your way to this location. It was the worst case scenario, but we felt as though the rewards outweighed the risks.

"Valbryn has run out of people to conscript into his army," the old man pressed on with his story. "And as such, we believed he would attempt to conscript others from the different nations. It is unfortunate that we did not think him capable of traversing other worlds with his magic. That failure falls onto our narrow-mindedness. But once we discovered what he was attempting to do, we attempted to even out the playing field, if you will.

"This should answer your first question adequately, I think. We need your assistance to stop Valbryn and to restore order to the nation before it becomes too unstable to be saved. You warriors were chosen of your own respective worlds to counter-act the presence of those others who were called unto this world. I implore you to give us your allegiance, if only for a while, to bring peace to this world as you have done in the past with your own."

There was a silence that fell upon the small group. The others looked amongst themselves as though searching for their answer, but he didn't need any time to think about his. "No."

Everyone turned to regard him in surprise. Everyone except the old man, who simply watched him, no doubt waiting for an explanation. "It's your world, it's your problem. I'm not fighting a battle that isn't my own. I have too many other things complicating my life to let something else mess it up any further."

The explanation sounded heartless, selfish even, but it was the truth. Too many people had dictated what he should do in the past and he had resolved to lead his own life without being led by the nose. If he let this man tell him what he needed to do just because he dragged him from his home he would be reverting back into the person he was trying to leave behind. It wasn't an option.

"Hate ta say it, but I agree with the brat," the guy with the cigarette said after a moment of silence. Squall scowled at the term but was more surprised that someone else was agreeing with his decision. He had assumed he would be the only one. "I'd say it's safe to say we all got our own troubles to deal with to be dragged into a war that ain't ours."

"You're kidding me," Tidus said in surprise, looking between the two as though he'd never met anyone like them before. "I mean, c'mon! The guy's asking for our help, how can you just stand there and say no?"

"I believe I just did," Squall said dismissively.

"Well _that's _kind of selfish," Tidus responded. "Wouldn't you want someone to help _you_ if you asked? How would you feel if you asked and someone just said 'it's none of my business'?"

"Then you can help him, if you want to," Squall shrugged.

"Sorry, kid, but I just wanna get home," the smoker said, though he looked somewhat ashamed of his earlier agreement. "Right Cloud?"

Cloud simply shrugged. "I don't know."

"What'dya mean 'ya don't know'?" The smoker looked incredulous. "You don't wanna go back?"

"It's not that," Cloud said with a shrug. "You're right about not interfering in something that doesn't concern you, but Tidus is right too. We can't just turn our backs on them, even if it isn't any of our business."

"So you're gonna get involved?"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't know."

"So this is your decision," the old man interjected. He sounded grave, almost disappointed and no one could find it in them to answer the question. He sighed heavily before straightening his back. "I can understand your resolve to stay uninvolved in others affairs. I even respect it. But it is unfortunate that you are already involved, just by standing here having this very conversation."

Squall's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"I did not intend in any way for you to learn what has happened this way," the old man spoke gravely. "And indeed I apologize for how this may sound, but the damage to each of your worlds has already begun."

"What?" The smoker exclaimed while Cloud's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Squall himself balked at the news, wondering if it was some kind of threat.

"What're you talking about?" Tidus asked eagerly.

"When Valbryn cast his spell, he unknowingly forced a rift to form in your worlds. It is the only way he could have accessed the people he wished to bring to this world. He is not the only one at fault however. The rift grew slightly wider at my own interference when I brought you all here. Right now, it is harmless, but overtime it will grow until eventually it consumes those universes, destroying your worlds and everything within it, while stranding you all into this world."

"So in bringing us here, you've essentially killed everyone else?" Squall stated, feeling anger grow in the pit of his stomach. "And now you have the gall to use that to get us to help you."

The old man shook his head sadly. "Indeed I am sorry for the trouble we have caused, but the decision is still yours to make. I only tell you this now so you know of the danger that your worlds face. It was not my intention to destroy but to simply keep the balance of power intact. This news causes you all pain and I can only express my sincerest and humblest apologies, but there is a way to stop the rift."

"Let me guess," the smoker said sardonically. "Ya want us ta kill the King so it'll reverse the effects?"

"Nay, Cid Highwind of Rocket Town," the old man answered solemnly. "Killing the King would simply make matters worse, for he is the only one who knows this spell. The only way to save your worlds is to have him reverse the spell, returning all that was back to the way it should be. That in turn, would return each of you to your respective worlds."

"I'm guessing walking up to him and asking nicely is out of the question," Tidus asked tentatively. He appeared a little less cheerful since the news had been given.

The old man chuckled in response. "Valbryn does not have any regard for life, human or otherwise. Pleas of mercy have fallen upon deaf ears for many who have begged to have their lives spared. If it is not beneficial to him, he will throw it away, even his own men. That is simply the person he is. So will you join our resistance and aid us in stopping Valbryn?"

"Well we don't have much of a choice now do we?" Squall snapped. Cid and Cloud also looked less than impressed.

"I am truly sorry you feel that way," the old man said, his voice betraying his shame. "I wished to have informed you of this matter under different circumstances, but all the same you all needed to be aware of what is at stake. But we must act with haste, for it will only be a matter of time before Valbryn acts. It would be a surprise if he did not suspect anything at this point in time."

* * *

Everything was going according to plan.

He had had his reservations in casting his spell, mostly concern about the enemy and what they would do once he had made his move. He had pondered on the plan for a fortnight before he had decided to take the chance. The rewards outweighed the risks after all and, if things went his way, the world would be under his iron rule.

Marcus Dominic Zeke Valbryn IX had ruled this city for as long as he had been king, as had his father before him and his before him. He fancied himself the best of them all, for he was the only one who was so close to achieving total supremacy. Only his line was worthy of ruling this world, and soon everyone would know of his power.

There was one small wrinkle in the plan however. He had felt the presence of that meddlesome wizard as he had drawn his desired guests to this world, scrambling to pick up the pieces he had allowed to cascade back into their pitiful world. He knew nothing of whatever consequences that would be reaped upon the worlds he had stolen from, only that the affect on him would be a new set of allies.

So what if the wizard had brought forth warriors to combat his own forces? His were by far the strongest he could have obtained, and they would be the victors should it come down to a skirmish.

Leaving his thoughts of his enemies behind, he rose up from the throne he sat in, wearing armour that was encrusted with jewels that even the wealthiest aristocrat would drool over. His fingers were laden with rings, gold bands and jewels encrusted into the metal, and his clothes were spun from the finest silks, beaming the most beautiful of blues that money could possibly buy. Atop his dark lofty hair sat a crown and his beard was precisely trimmed so that the facial hair simply covered the area surrounding the mouth and lips. His deep blues eyes dazzled in the light as they took in the sight of his new Generals, standing before him while the rest of his guards showed their respect and knelt with their heads bowed.

Normally, King Valbryn would not tolerate such blatant disrespect, but he allowed the lapse to slide by him, at least for the moment. They were newcomers, after all. They didn't know any better. But they would learn their place in due time, first they had to agree to his terms.

"You are, by no doubt, wondering why I have assembled you all here on this day," the King started languidly, as though he was speaking to the members of his court. "I humbly require your assistance in achieving more power the likes of which has never before been cultivated. My humble city has achieved many things throughout the years, but I feel there is much more that can be offered in order to fully flourish this nation. To do this would be to involve the other nations in this world and to topple their own chains of command in order to rule supreme and to ensure that we receive _exactly_ as we so rightfully deserve. Unfortunately, my army has met with some… resistance within the walls of this fair land, and I require your assistance to eradicate the infestation, so to speak."

"How stubborn is this _infestation, _as you call it?" One of the visitors inquired. His voice was soft and lofty, giving the illusion that he was flighty, almost entirely without a plan.

"It is not so much about the infestation as it is about the cause," King Valbryn responded cordially. The first sign that a favourable agreement was to be had was when the potential ally asked questions such as this. Still he managed to hide his excitement well, simply by acting friendly and hospitable all the while keeping his expression carefully in check. "The leader of this problem is quite wily. Crafty, if you will. No matter how many of his critters I fell he sends me dozens more in their place."

"That sounds like a trifling problem," another visitor responded. It was a woman who spoke with an air of dignity and wisdom that was almost beyond her years. She folded her arms across her chest as she spoke. "And you wish for _us_ to eliminate the head?"

"All in due time, my dear, all in due time," Valbryn replied calmly. "For now, we need only focus upon the present. Elysium is, as I say, quite crafty. No doubt he will know that I am planning something to combat his futile resistance."

"Then what purpose do you have for calling us here?" the third visitor asked sharply, his tone deep and lacking patience.

"Simply what I am asking of you all, your allegiance with the goal of taking over these great lands and many more," King Valbryn explained. "However, there is a slight problem that will undoubtedly delay these plans. While I was summoning you three to my humble abode," he gestured whimsically at the lavish surroundings that formed the grand hall, "I felt a foreign presence tapping into my spell. I fear that the resistance has discovered my plans far sooner than I would have liked, and has acquired forces with the intention of heeding these plans. One of the tasks I will be charging you with will be the complete and utter eradication of these troublesome pests. So what say you?"

He watched them through a mask of nonchalance but inside his insides squirmed as though he had swallowed a serpent. He prayed the three visitors would see things from his light and agree to aid him in this endeavour. As much as he was loath to admit it, Elysium's forces were growing far too powerful as the days dragged on. Soon the wizard would have enough men to topple his rule. That could not happen.

The lofty-voiced male gave a shrug of the shoulders, as though he was uninterested with the sordid affair. His words, however, spoke of a different story. "Why not? I suppose we haven't much else to lose by aligning ourselves with his majesty. It is, after all, a step up from our previous position."

"I am not one to be swayed by words," the impatient one said coldly, as though his words ended the debate.

"But surely he has a point," the woman chastised, sounding as though she had yet to make up her mind. "We would reap the power that no doubt drives us. And, if the King's worry has merit, there may be reason enough for us to strike against this _Elysium._"

"And what exactly could that be?" the loft voiced one inquired of the woman curiously.

"Think about it. The King tapped into our worlds to bring us to him. If someone else tapped into his spell, then who could the enemy _possibly _haveretrieved to assist them?"

There was silence building for a moment. The King was relieved that one of the three had decided to align himself with him. The stubborn one still snorted. "I have no desire to rule over everything."

"Neither do I," the woman crooned. "But it would be to our advantage to do away with potential pests who would stand against our true desires. And it would help to utilize the power that this King is so graciously willing to bestow upon us for that very purpose."

The stubborn one seemed to ponder on the idea for one agonizingly long moment before regarding the King. "We will aid you in your affairs, but know this. Once the enemy has been taken care of, I will no longer have a reason to consort with you."

"Duly noted," the King responded smoothly as he covered the sigh of relief that escaped him. He would deal with that when the time came. "In the name of Marcus Dominic Zeke Valbryn the IX and all the Kings past who have bestowed upon me this name, I hereby dub thee three my Generals of Chaos. The time of war is at hand and as such, we must give the enemy little time to prepare their forces. Do with my army as you wish in the means of preparing for this battle."

He smiled grandly as the three tipped forward in a bow, a measure of respect. It mattered little that one of the three were reluctant, or that their allegiance was only temporary. All that mattered was Elysium's utter defeat, and his reign upon the city to be complete.


	3. Preparation

**Chapter III:  
Preparation**

* * *

Not much time had passed since they'd given their answer. They all still found themselves standing in the same dark room with the shimmering sky-light overhead basking them with the light of the outdoors. The strange man in the white robes pulled out a small pouch before beginning to walk in a circle that surrounded them on all sides, giving them strict instructions not to move. Whatever it was he was doing, he found himself with an uneasy stomach as he watched the man move about.

They _still_ weren't sure how the hell the man had managed to take the floor out from underneath them all. At least, he didn't _think _the others knew. _He_ sure as hell didn't. Tidus looked just as confused as he had the moment they'd met him, and Cloud wasn't talking much as he watched the old man wander about. The dark haired brat has inspecting his weapon - he figured it was some kind of sword. The light wasn't bright enough for him to make it out completely, but he somehow got the sense he was watching the old guy as well, he just wasn't being obvious about it.

Tidus had asked a couple of times what he was up to, but the man hadn't answered him. In fact, the first time the blonde with the shield had asked about it, the old guy had started muttering in some language he hadn't heard before. It reminded him of Red's grandfather, Bugenhagen, who used to chant all kinds of silly words before the strange effects took hold.

Cid Highwind suddenly found himself hoping that this guy – whoever he was – didn't decide to turn them all into toads.

From the sounds of it, Tidus had gotten bored of asking questions that weren't getting answered, because he sighed loudly and sank down onto the ground, folding his legs and resting his elbows atop his knees. From the moment he'd seen the kid, Cid had thought that perhaps he was something of an athlete. He was pretty quick on his feet, so nothing too tough like football, though he might have been a running back. But from how quickly he'd navigated that wall, he supposed it could have easily been a water sport, like Water Polo or something. It could've been both. There wasn't any kind of rule that said you couldn't play two different kinds of sports.

Deciding that he didn't much like the silence, minus the strange man's mumbling of course, Cid figured he might as well make with the small talk. God only knew that Cloud was too quiet for his own good and he figured the brat wouldn't go out of his way to start a chat either. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he spoke. "So what kinda sport ya play?"

It took Tidus a moment to realise it, but eventually he figured out that he was the intended target for the conversation. Just to be sure, he pointed at himself, having perked up slightly once he'd connected the dots. Cid snorted. "No, dingus. I'm talking to the _princess _over there," he said sarcastically, inclining his head to gesture at the brunet. Said brunet scowled in his direction, but that was really the only indication he got that the other boy had heard him. "Ya got _athlete_ written all over ya. So? What sport?"

The youth brightened up some at the question; Cid figured he was relieved to be able to talk about something of interest. "Blitzball."

Cid arched an eyebrow, wondering if the kid just made that up on the spot or something. Tidus' expression shifted to incredulous as he took in the elder man's reaction. "Wait, you guys don't have Blitzball where you're from?" He slapped himself in the forehead when Cid shook his head no. "Oh man. You guys are missing out. It's this underwater sport, and the object of the game is to score as many points as you can before the buzzer sounds."

The pilot snorted again. "I coulda told ya that. I ain't stupid, kid."

Tidus winced, his right hand automatically rising up to rub the back of his head. "Right, sorry. Anyways, there are six players per team. One keeper, two defenders, two forwards and a midfielder."

"Sounds a little like hockey," Cid said, catching onto the player formations, "only it's underwater instead of on an ice ring."

At the comment, Tidus' expression shifted back to confusion. Cid blinked at him incredulously, wondering how anyone could possibly have not heard of hockey before he shook it off. "Never mind, just continue."

And the youth was about to when he caught sight of something behind the pilot. Curious, Cid turned around to see what it was, and found that the strange old guy had walked in the complete circle and allowed whatever it was to drop to the ground at his feet. From the looks of it, it was some strange kind of sand.

How he'd managed to find sand when they were sitting on a stone floor, Cid didn't know.

"That should be just enough," the old man said before dusting his hand off the side of his robes. "Now, I will need you all to rise and do exactly as I tell you."

Up until this point, excluding the old guy, Cloud had been the only person who had remained on his feet, whereas everyone else had made themselves comfortable until the strange man had finished doing whatever it was he had just done. As Tidus and Cid exchanged glances between one another, Squall sheathed his weapon and did as the old man said.

"Uh, excuse me old man, but what did you just do?" Tidus asked as he did the same.

"Please, call me Elysium," the old man explained, bypassing the question.

Tidus had caught it as well. "Um… Okay, Elysium, what did you just do?"

"Rather than tell you, I believe it would be more than adequate if I simply showed you," Elysium remarked cryptically as he entered the circle. "As I say, it would be beneficial for you to do as I tell you, for the meantime. If you would all be so kind as to grab a hold of my robes..."

He left the sentence hanging. Cid had the feeling Elysium had no intention of explaining why. Once again, there was a hesitant silence that fell upon them all as the four of them eventually did as told and each grabbed a hold of the robes along Elysium's back.

"Now, I must ask that you all remain as still as possible, and to remain as quiet as possible. I must keep my concentration, for I will not be able to try this again for another day should something go awry."

No one said anything. Elysium seemed to take that as a sign of obedience before he turned his attention away from them and began to speak. Again, Cid was reminded of Red's grandfather as the words weren't in any language he'd ever heard. Whatever he was saying was short lived, however, because he stopped abruptly a split second before the cordoned off space they were standing in began to glow a bright white. A wind from out of nowhere picked up, stirring up dust and debris into what Cid could only amount to be a tornado, and he was forced to squint his eyes to keep the dust out of them. Everyone else was in the same position as him except for the old man who, while his eyes were shut, stood straight and tall, as though this kind of thing happened to him every day.

Then, there was a kind of lurching sensation from the pit of his stomach that reminded the pilot of take off, and suddenly it felt like they were revolving in a 360 degree angle. The spinning sensation picked up suddenly, making them go faster and faster until finally it stopped and his stomach rose up into his throat as the feeling of falling overcame him. He accidentally lost his grip on the old man's robes and a panic feeling rose up in him before he made a hard contact with something solid against his back.

Opening his eyes wider, he was surprised to find that the dust was gone, and that he was lying on the floor of a completely different room. Like the place previous, it was dark, but from what he could make out once his eyes had adjusted there was at least a ceiling. He wasn't in complete darkness though. There was a light filtering from the left of him and he turned his head in the direction, suddenly surprised to find that the source was coming from a set of stairs that led further up.

There were groans all around him and when he turned to investigate he found that the others were in much the same condition as he was, sprawled out on their backs as though something was taken out from underneath them. In fact, the only person who was still standing was Elysium. It was like they were making their own circle out of people instead of that strange powder the elder man had sprinkled around the area.

Just thinking about the trip however made him realise something else entirely and he immediately looked over to find Cloud quickly forcing himself up onto both knees and one hand, the other held firmly secure around the ex-Soldier's mouth.

"What's wrong with him?" Tidus asked suddenly. Cid looked over and found the blonde youth sitting crossed legged and the other brat was following suit.

"Motion Sickness," Cid said simply. He wasn't all together sure Cloud would appreciate spreading that information around, but he wouldn't have been surprised if Tidus had started freaking out about it if he hadn't. As long as he'd known him, Cloud had never done very well on most forms of transportations. Chocobo's seemed to be the exception though, but put the man on a car or an airship, and he would end up in the same position he was in now. Fortunately over the last couple of years he seemed to have gotten that problem under control, but damned if Elysium's trick hadn't set him off. "Not something to be worryin' about."

"I must apologise," Elyisum said and he sounded sincere. "I did not realize that any of you would be suffering from a poor constitution."

"Breathe through your nose, Cloud," Cid encouraged and he felt relieved when the blonde mercenary did just that. After a couple of minutes Cloud removed the hand from his mouth and continued the breathing exercise. "Ya better?"

"A little," Cloud managed to force out.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a noise from above and everyone tensed. Squall placed his hand over the handle to his own weapon while Cid did the same with the spear strapped to his back. Cloud and Tidus simply looked up at the noise, waiting for any indication that they had been heard.

Again, Elysium was out of funk with the group because he was the only one who remained calm. "You are all among friends here," Elysium explained. "They merely know of my return. This building is our defacto headquarters as it were, and we are currently residing in the basement."

There were light foot falls moving about on the ceiling overhead, the sounds drifting about as the mobile person was moving around, but then the sound became closer and more distinct. As time progressed, the footfalls came quicker and closer still as whoever it was approached the stairs and descended them. A moment later, a woman with a lantern appeared at the very bottom of the stairs, looking almost frantic, but the look eased itself from her features as she took in Elysium's form. "Oh thank heavens you're back," she said, putting the lantern down on a nearby shelf and gathering up the rest of her dress – brown and white, though the white looked more yellow from the light of the lamp – as she moved closer. "You've got luck on your side, Elysium. The guards have just left the building. Surely they would have realized your presence if the alarm had gone off a moment sooner."

"You guys have an alarm?" Tidus asked.

The girl took in his appearance with a surprised gasp before doing the same upon spotting the others. "Are these the travellers you were recruiting?" She continued to stare at them in awe as she took their presence in.

"Yes Matilda, these would be the warriors I have gathered," Elysium answered. His voice was calm, but there was a wrinkle at the edge of his eye that betrayed his amusement. "Though I must confess, they do look a tad strange."

"I'll get right on it," Matilda chirped as though she had been given some kind of task. Cid hadn't heard any kind of request come from Elysium, but he guessed there might have been a hidden meaning to his words. Before he could say anything, Matilda climbed back up the stairs the way she had come, no doubt to do whatever it was Elysium had charged her to do.

"To answer your question, Tidus, yes we do have an alarm," Elysium spoke candidly. "Before I get into much more detail, I suppose the lantern is doing very little to shed some light to our surroundings."

He said a couple of words (again spoken in a different language) before he waved his walking stick and then suddenly there was a ball of light floating above the wooden object. It hovered a little higher and suddenly Cid could see everything about the room. Directly in front of the stairs, it looked like it was some kind of storage room. There were cabinets with drawers and dressers and all kinds of places someone could stash something inside of; if someone were to just be looking from the top of the stairs, they wouldn't find anything of interest. It was almost like it had been conditioned that way.

The rest of the room, however, revealed the room's real intent. There was a long table in the very centre, close to where Cloud was sitting hunched over, with chairs along the sides and one at the very end. Cid assumed this was some kind of discussion table, or a place where everyone ate. Further down, there were more rooms, but the doors were closed so there was no telling what was in them.

It definitely looked like a secret headquarters and Cid whistled as he took in the place. Tidus also looked impressed as he took in everything around him and, when he'd recovered enough, Cloud took in the place as well as though he were looking at another room. His features were neutral, but Cid knew that Cloud's true reaction was in his eyes, and they reflected that he too was impressed by the set up. The only one who didn't seem to care about their surroundings at all seemed to be Squall, but Cid wasn't surprised by that. He got the feeling that it took a lot to make the brat care about anything.

"What would happen if someone came down those stairs to search the whole basement," Squall asked suddenly. "You've got the storage units propped against the stairs as a decoy, but that's only assuming the guards wouldn't think to do a thorough inspection."

"Quite true," Elysium conceded and Cid realised, grudgingly, that the brat had a point. "However, were they to descend the stairs for a better look, all they would be allowed to see would be the remnants of a disorganised closet."

"What do you mean by that?" Cloud asked.

"It's quite simple, actually," Elysium said. "There have been enchantments placed all about the room to ensure that the guards, should they find reason to suspect that this is our hiding ground, would not find what they are looking for. In fact, only those who are in our resistance would know of how it appears. As for being able to bypass these enchantments, well, it would take a very skilled magic user, I should think."

"So you're a Sorcerer," Squall asked, and Cid couldn't help but notice that the brunet's eyes narrowed slightly, almost like he was accusing him of something.

Rather than be put off by the look, however, Elysium chuckled. "No, I am no Sorcerer; otherwise I should think that I would have been able to summon you all to the proper location without having to depend on the King who, on the other hand, is. I am but a humble Wizard, whose spells depend wholly on the components I prepare for the day. Once I run out of components, I cannot utilise my powers until I have prepared the next set of components. It is, I should think, a far different method of magic than the methods you are all accustomed to."

Cid agreed. He had never heard of someone having to prepare a spell before it was cast before. It was unheard of in his world. The spell they could use depended on their own energies and the kind of materia they had equipped at the time. Judging from the looks on Tidus and Squall's features, preparing spells was different from what they were used to as well. The former seemed to have a similar method of magic using that Cid and Cloud possessed, but he wasn't so sure about Tidus. The blonde youth had yet to demonstrate any magical capabilities whatsoever.

"Now then, to business," Elysium said, disrupting the pilot's thoughts and drawing his attention back to the discussion at hand. "First off, in answer to your question, Tidus, the alarm works one of two ways. The first and, far most obvious way, is that it alerts us to the presence of an unwanted intruder, and thus it would allow for our forces to act accordingly. Another service it provides is to alert our own people of the presence of our alliance members, in this case myself. Unfortunately, the drawback to any alarm is that it is quite good at doing its job. Should any of the guards have been present for our arrival, it would have alerted them to our presence, and thus would have made the situation all the more problematic."

Tidus nodded slowly; from the looks of it the youth was taking in the information as best he could. Cid didn't think it was far off to say he understood. The notion was simple enough.

"The next order of business," Elysium continued when there were no objections to his explanation, "is your present attire. While it befits each of you, who have come from your own worlds, it tends to draw unwanted attention to yourselves here, as it did with the guards outdoors. That is why I have sent Matilda in order to draw up appropriate wears to prevent such an instance from re-occurring. Squall had the right idea of providing a temporary solution to the problem as he did," Cid caught sight of Squall looking down at the black cloak he was currently wearing, almost as though he'd forgotten he had it on, "though I must insist that you do refrain from simply taking what you need. The man of whom you stole that cloak from is a very dear friend of mine. It is fortunate that he understands our plight enough to not press charges without conferring with me first."

In response to this request, Squall arched an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "I can't promise anything."

"But you will try, I am sure," Elysium said, though Cid got the feeling it was more like an order than an actual request. Squall turned away from the gaze, a sign that the pilot was not the only one who had caught it. "Having done that, we shall commence with the meeting and proceed upon reviewing the information we have retrieved henceforth."

* * *

Since their arrival in the strange basement, Tidus had learned quite a bit.

For starters, the base that the resistance was residing in was actually the basement of a modest looking barber and tailershop. He'd heard of instances where people would gather in bars and pubs and had thought it was strange that Elysium's group hadn't thought to follow suit, but it turned out a lot of people talked when they were shopping around for clothes or getting their hair trimmed or cut. He chalked it up to having learned something new.

The family who owned the two-part shop were each members of the resistance themselves, but from the sounds of it they kept that information to themselves. It didn't surprise him in the least, especially with Matilda having announced the presence of guards, who from the sounds of it frequented the place often. Coupled with the information regarding the resistance's location and it was a small wonder they were keeping up with the King.

Another thing he'd learned about the resistance was its name. While the meaning of 'The Sons of Dala' had originally been lost on him, it was made clear when he learned that the city's name was, in fact, Dala. The name was homage to the original rule of the city and meant as a total disregard to the current king. From what he had heard from simply overhearing the other members of the resistance, this Sorcerer-King guy wasn't well liked.

It reminded him more and more of Seymour. Like the king, Seymour had used his power over Spira to power his own devices, eventually wanting to kill everyone in order to save them, claiming that Spira was a world that revolved around death. The only difference was Seymour was well received by the people of Spira and no one really suspected the layer beneath the priest until Yuna learned how the Guado's father had died.

Once the family was sure that the coast was clear, they ushered the four strangers upstairs in order for a fitting, taking measurements and making adjustments to the assortment of cloths before hurrying off to make the appropriate actions. Once that was done, they were ushered back downstairs, most likely to prevent any unwanted visitors from seeing them through the windows or as they entered the building.

So now they were sitting, waiting for the meeting to commence and to change into their new clothes. Tidus was glad to be able to blend into his surroundings for once, but he really did feel that he was going to miss his Blitzball uniform. It was his only real connection to the Zanarkand that he grew up in and not even the knowledge that none of it was real could possibly do anything to change that.

Just thinking about it was making him homesick and he looked around the room in an attempt to distract himself. Elysium wasn't around. He had said something about making preparations and had disappeared before the family had even started with them. Cid and Cloud were nearby but they looked like they were engrossed in some kind of deep conversation that Tidus was more than just a little hesitant to interrupt and Squall was quietly inspecting his weapon on the opposite end of the room, looking like he was more than comfortable being left to his own devices.

He didn't really know anyone else. Some other resistance members came and went along as they pleased, going about their business as if strange people under their roof wasn't so out of the ordinary. And as much of a social butterfly as Tidus was, he didn't exactly feel comfortable going up to these guys and starting a conversation.

The other three were at least in the same situation as him. It gave him the feeling that it would be at least a little easier to talk to them than it would be to talk to anyone else.

So, with that reasoning behind him, Tidus found himself awkwardly making his way to the opposite end of the room, where the other teenager sat. There was a little light that was awarded to the brunet, though the Blitzer got the feeling that he wouldn't need it to do what he was doing. He moved quietly, so as not to startle or disturb him, but he was about a good couple metres away when Squall disturbed the quiet. "Can I help you with something?"

The tone was flat, but there was a sense of irritation behind it that caused Tidus to pause mid-step. Squall hadn't looked up from what he was doing, and amidst the people moving about them Tidus was surprised he had even been heard. Deciding that he might as well answer, he shrugged before realizing the other teenager wasn't exactly looking at him. "Uh, well..." He started awkwardly, bringing his right hand back to rub the back of his head awkwardly. "I just wanted to apologize. You know, for what happened back there."

He received no answer at first and Tidus guessed it was encouragement to continue. "Before Elysium made the ground fall out from under us I mean. It could have been handled better. I shouldn't have just run out in front of you like that, especially since you weren't exactly thrilled with us at the moment."

"Forget it," Squall said abruptly. Tidus caught a gesture from him that could have loosely been translated as a shrug. "I already have."

"O-kay then..." Tidus said before he realized he was bringing his hand back up to rub at his head. He stopped himself before he could finish the gesture and brought the arm back down. "So... what're you doing?"

He winced slightly, realizing that he already knew that but trying to bring this guy into a conversation was harder than pulling teeth. Squall shot him a look through dark bangs before turning his attention back to the object in his lap. "What does it _look_ like I'm doing?"

"Well it looks like you're cleaning your weap—" Tidus paused as a glint of metal where the hilt of the sword should have started, and upon closer inspection he realized it looked more like a handle to a machina. He gasped in shock and leaned in a little closer, his earlier reservations going forgotten in place of noticing something that was somewhat recognizable.

The hilt of the sword Squall used was definitely a machina, if a little older than what he was used to seeing. The handle itself was black and had some kind of leather covering over it (probably for comfort). It also looked sturdy enough to be swung around with both hands and had a chain hanging from the base. Right after where the fingers were supposed to curve into the grooves was a curved piece of metal bent into a u-shape. It started at the base of where the metal of the weapon began and ended a couple of inches before the blade started. Another piece of metal, albeit shorter, was placed inside the small space of the curved metal piece. Tidus knew enough about machina to know that it was the trigger that set it off. Above the trigger was a chamber that looked like it could hold thick needle-like objects inside of it and, just judging from the side that was facing him, Tidus thought it was safe to assume that since it looked as though there were three visible slots that there should be three more slots on the opposite side.

Then the blade started. In comparison to the rest of the weapon, the sword part looked simple in contrast. It was long, probably as long as the length of Tidus' leg from his kneecap to his foot, and the tip was curved, not so much like the brotherhood, but enough that it would probably hook and catch if the weapon was handled the right way. It looked like a regular sword if you ignored the machina part of it, but near where the blade started, it looked as if someone took a small rectangular shaped chunk of metal out from the middle and instead added a rounder rectangular piece of metal that attached to the machine that reminded Tidus of the barrel to the fire-arm. Crafted along the flat side of the blade was a strange creature that reminded Tidus of a Chimera, only instead of having the snake like tail or the face of a bird, it just had the mammal part with wings. It looked cool, but it also looked a little creepy.

"How the hell did you combine your machina with your sword?" Tidus exclaimed, unable to hide his shock. There was always a chance that Squall's world had people like the Al Bhed who could make such an odd combination, but he wasn't willing to make that assumption.

Squall finally stopped cleaning the strange weapon and raised his head, looking at Tidus with an expression that clearly asked 'you're kidding, right?' Tidus wondered if everyone from the other teenager's world carried around strange and inconceivable weapons, couldn't help thinking that it'd be a strange and yet interesting place to visit if they did. After all, he'd thought the very same thing when he'd first found himself in Spira. That it had been an interesting place, if a little simplified in comparison to his Zanarkand anyway.

A moment passed where Tidus' question hung in the air without so much as a response but eventually Squall got the hint that Tidus was not kidding after all. The other youth sighed in response and returned his attention towards his weapon. "I didn't," was all he said in response.

Tidus blinked in confusion. That wasn't exactly what he'd meant when he'd asked the question but somehow he doubted he'd get a real answer if he tried to elaborate so instead he crouched down so he could get a better look at the strange object. It looked like it had been well taken care of. This didn't surprise Tidus, what with the obsessive way Squall had been inspecting it since they'd first met Elysium. "How... does it work?" Tidus asked curiously, trying to imagine what would happen if you pulled the trigger.

Another sigh. Squall sounded more than just a little irritated by the interruption and glared at him once again. "You're not going to leave me alone until I answer, are you?"

Tidus grinned good-naturedly in response. With another sigh, the brunet put aside the cloth he had been using to clean the weapon and held it up for the blitzer to see. "You swing and hit something, it hurts them. You swing and hit something while pulling the trigger, it hurts them more."

"I kinda got that," Tidus said awkwardly. "But where does the bullet go when you pull the trigger?"

"It doesn't go anywhere."

"You mean there's a _ton_ of bullets stuck in that blade?" Tidus asked, feeling his eyebrows shoot up near the top of his head. "No wonder you've been cleaning that thing insanely. Doesn't it get heavy after a while?"

Squall rolled his eyes in response. "The bullet passes through the chamber and then enters the blade, but it detonates inside, causing a kind of shockwave that caused the blade to vibrate forcefully."

"Oh..." Tidus said, drawing out the word as he understood the concept. "So then, when the blade vibrates, it aggravates the wound that was caused originally, right?"

"That's the idea," Squall said through a sigh before returning his attention towards the strange weapon.

"So this machina sword..." Tidus said after a moment of silence passed them by. Squall stopped what he was doing and hung his head in response, but this didn't deter the blitzballer. "It's probably difficult to wield, huh?"

But before the other youth could answer him (that's if he were about to anyway), there was a noise that sounded like a door slamming shut and when he turned around he saw Elysium heading towards them. Nearby, Cid and Cloud had both heard the sound as well because they looked up from whatever conversation they were having. "Everyone, to the meeting hall at once. There has been a predicament, and the operation must commence immediately."

"What operation?" Tidus asked, causing Elysium to pause in midstride.

The elder man turned his look onto him before answering, "All will be made clear."

The tone clearly instructed them to follow him, and seemingly unanimously they did just that.

* * *

_Okay, so this chapter was heavy on conversation and build up. Hope no one was too bored with it._


	4. Infiltration

_I am in shocked awe at the response of this story. I never would have thought that people would view it as being this popular. I'm touched by the amount of feedback I've recieved and hope I haven't let anyone down._

_As such, I wanted to address some of the reviews I've recieved as well as some questions I recieved from earlier chapters. I hope I can answer these questions and concerns to the best of my ability. This will be done at the end of the chapter, so as not to provide spoilers, but I want to thank all of you for your flattering words of encouragement. As a result, this story has recieved the most reviews in comparison to the number of chapters (not including this one). _

_Now that that's done, I have to apologize, only because this chapter isn't completely up to my standards. Unfortunately, due to the ideas I have bouncing around in my head, this was the best way I was able to transfer them onto my computer, and if you're sorely disappointed with the quality of this chapter, I can only offer you my sincerest apologies. As the story progresses, instances like this will become few and far between as I lock down on exactly where I want this story to go (as of now, I have an idea of what I want to do, but it's conveying it without causing confusion or being generick about it that is blocking me. God I'm such a perfectionist)._

_This chapter is also being posted in celebration of Dissidia 012 coming out sometime next year, meaning I won't be able to play it until it comes to Canada, which won't happen until sometime in 2012. _

**Edited: **_12/26/2010 - Completely forgot about the breaking between each sequence. That's what I get for posting after midnight._

**Edited: **_03/05/2011 - Just discovered a couple of days ago that the release date I saw was actually for Canada. Pre-ordered my copy for the extra-special bits, and I'm 'squeeing' as I count down the days to its release. Hurrah for being wrong!_

* * *

**Chapter IV:  
Infiltration**

* * *

He stood at the ready, back pressed against the wall with his hand gripping the hilt of his sword in preparation. His breathing was steady, a quiet thing that melded with the silence that surrounded him. Said silence was only minutely disturbed when the sounds of thudding footfalls approached. Within a few moments those same footfalls would start moving away, the tell-tale signs of a guard's patrol.

Cloud was more than just a little familiar with the routine. Having been part of the Shin-Ra Infantry, he had been posted to do such jobs like this one until the final mission in Nibelheim, defending and protecting important personnel until they reached their desired destination or completed their mission objective. The task required a lot of concentration and observation skills in case of enemy interference. But not all of those missions were as simple as they appeared...

He suppressed those thoughts with some difficulty. He had no time for self reflection – they had a job to do.

He turned his attention towards Cid who, like him, was outfitted in the strange robes and cloths that the rest of the town wore. Despite not having had any training in military provisions or subterfuge, the former Astronaut was holding his own just fine. Many of their comrades during the fight against Sephiroth had had very little or no experience in the area, but they had learned quickly enough. Despite half of their operations having become a mess, his team had proven themselves more than capable enough to stop the ex-Soldier from destroying their planet. Unlike with his sword, Cid's weapon was able to fit beneath the folds of cloth.

There were others with them, other members of the rebel force that Elysium had recruited outfitted in the same town garb, each mulling about to their own devices as though they were going about natural business while he and Cid scoped out the guards. So far he had found their formations to be pretty tedious, bordering on predictable. He guessed it was a by-product of being in this city. According to Elysium's intelligence, the sole military group of Dala followed the King's law, so it couldn't be helped that the rest of the city was ignorant in that area. Still, it would make their job all the more difficult...

Raising his free hand, he gained everyone's attention as he waited for an opening. He had spotted one a few times during their watch as he waited for an opportune moment, but had only hesitated in advancing because he had thought it might have been a trap. There had been many times when he'd fought the Shin-Ra and even Sephiroth that he had fallen for their tricks, and he wasn't about to risk anyone else's life by rushing in head first. He had learned better than that.

But as the time had passed, Cloud began to change his thoughts on the matter. This was a fairly primitive place, so it would make sense that they wouldn't think of the things that the Shin-Ra trained him to look for all those years ago. It was almost like they'd been teleported to some medieval era, where technology was under-developed, and where the people depended heavily upon swords and other more primitive weapons. It was when the patrol continued that he realized he was right in thinking this.

It was only when he saw that opening appear once more that he fisted his hand, signalling for everyone to proceed.

* * *

_The meeting room kind of reminded Cloud of the den in Cosmo Canyon. The space was round in shape, and placed in the very centre was a large round table with chairs positioned along the edge. There looked like there was one space that could have housed a chair but didn't. He wondered about that for a brief second before Elysium stood at that exact spot. Cloud dismissed the sight, assuming that Elysium preferred to stand._

_The four of them weren't the only ones to enter the room after the wizard however. The various resistance members that he had seen moving about the base all day were joining them, but amongst them were faces he didn't recognize. He assumed Elysium would cover their introduction – their presence in this world seemed important after all – and watched as the seats began to fill. _

_Without hesitation, Tidus took up a chair and sat down, looking around awkwardly at all the people around him. Cid followed his lead, taking a seat beside him, but Squall bypassed the table altogether, opting to lean against the wall instead. Cloud assumed the brunet was positioning himself in a way that would allow him sight of the whole room. The whole stance screamed military, and Cloud couldn't help but wonder if this SeeD that Elysium had mentioned was anything at all like Soldier. He guessed he could always ask later and opted to mirror the youth, taking up a position against the wall on the side of the room they had entered from. _

_"First and foremost," Elysium spoke when the movement in the room had died down. "I would like to take this moment to thank each and every one of you for joining us today. I understand the dangers of collecting in one space but it is necessary that we act with haste. I believe you have all been made aware of Valbryn's most recent activities?"_

_There were murmurs of agreement from the other occupants that filled the room and when the wizard raised his arms for silence the other members obliged quickly. Cloud wondered if that trick would've worked while he and the others had been travelling together two years ago, but decided that he would have just looked stupid if he had tried it. "Fortunately, while Valbryn was successful in his endeavours, we have also acquired some assistance on our side. You may have already noticed them, but we are currently remedying the problem of camouflage."_

_Tidus, who – in Cloud's opinion – stood out even more than the rest of them, rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Without being able to see Cid's face, he could only imagine the incredulous look he was shooting the wizard. Cloud himself opted to ignore the remark. In comparison to the rest of the people in the room they really did look out of place. The Buster Sword attached to Cloud's back definitely didn't help things either._

_"But returning to the topic at hand," Elysium continued, "our man on the inside has informed me of Valbryn's plans for his latest acquisitions. He has made them his generals, thus giving them full reign of his military. I would assume that he is planning to escalate his plans further, and with that notion, it means our secrecy is even more important."_

_At Elysium's announcement, Cloud had a foreboding feeling rise up in the pit of his stomach. If they had already become the King's generals, then that had to mean they were either very powerful or very good at utilizing forces, possibly even both. With them not knowing who Valbryn had brought to him, Cloud mentally ran through the people he knew with that kind of background. Rufus Shinra was one of the names that immediately arrived on that list. He had only fought against him once, but the man was formidable in commanding the troops of Soldier and had the loyalty of the Turks behind him. He had the charisma to pull it off too. _

_Though, fortunately, Rufus was at least trying to stay out of trouble. The President of Shin-Ra had most definitely learned his lesson with his last attempt to empower the conglomerate._

_He was silently thankful that there wasn't anyone else from the military that he had worked with over the last two years that was even still around. He wouldn't have wanted to fight one of the others, even if it _was_ the only way to end this thing and return home. Looking around the room as nonchalant as he could manage to look, he couldn't help but wonder if the others were thinking along the same lines. He knew nothing about the worlds that Tidus and Squall had come from, but doubted very much that they would be enthused about fighting their own comrades. He didn't need to ask to know Cid at least shared the sentiment. _

_"Valbryn's goal, now more than ever, will be the complete irradiation of this resistance," Elysium was saying. "He will, no doubt, know of our own attempts to secure allies, but I can only pray that he under estimates our number, if only by a small margin._

_"The only thing our colleague was able to ascertain before our conversation was forced to end for certain is of little assistance and quite vague, though I hope that our new allies will be able to shed some light on things. These 'Generals of Chaos', as Valbryn has dubbed them, are made up of three individuals. Two men and a woman. I know that is of very little assistance and for that I apologize, but surely it narrows down the list of suspects for you."_

_"Not particularly," Cid said. Cloud could tell from the tone of the elder man's voice that he was frowning. _

_"But it'd help if we knew which worlds they all came from," Tidus piped up. "And what kind of weapons they used... something like that. You're sure your guy didn't mention anything like that?"_

_"You dare to doubt Elysium's word?" One of the members of the resistance piped up. He had red hair and was wearing a set of faded blue robes that covered everything else from view. He also wore a scathing look on his face that was directed towards the blonde, who quickly put his hands up in his defence. "If Elysium says he knows nothing else, then it is so!"_

_"Jeluba," Elysium spoke, raising his arm as he did so. Jeluba turned to regard the wizard and after a moment of silence passed between them, Jeluba sunk back into his chair without offering to say anything else. When it was apparent that nothing else would interrupt them, Elysium directed his attention to Tidus. "Unfortunately, as I have said earlier, our correspondent was unable to relate anything of that fashion."_

_"Well then, unfortunately, Tidus and Cid are right," Squall remarked from his corner, directing everyone's attention. "Just going by gender alone won't help us identify these generals. I don't know about anyone else, but I've fought alongside and against many men and women who were capable fighters. Without being able to narrow down the list of suspects, there's not much we can do."_

_"Then I fear that we've no other choice but to conduct our own investigation," Elysium said, sounding as though he had been hoping for another option. "As such, our operation must be altered somewhat to accommodate this fact. If you were to see these generals, how definite do you believe it would be to identify them this way?"_

_Cloud shrugged in response to the question as he answered it. "I can't be a hundred percent sure. Just because they come from our worlds isn't a guarantee that we've met them before. It could be someone we haven't even heard of for all we know. But we won't know for sure unless we try."_

* * *

He stood at attention, thinking to himself how much of an asshole this head guard was but keeping his mouth shut. No one knew more than him that speaking out of turn at a critical time like this was bound to get him in trouble. It had happened to him enough times in the past for him to have learned his lesson.

Still, the way he talked reminded Tidus of the priests who spouted Yevon's teachings. They sounded like ignorant lapdogs who never questioned the teachings, only obeyed them. He was so glad that Wakka had turned around when he had. It had been more than a little awkward listening to him talk about Yevon saying this and that about everything. And that was even _before_ he'd realized he'd been travelling with an Al-Bhed since leaving the Moonflow.

When they'd reached the King's castle, they had split off from the others in order to complete their own objective. Tidus couldn't believe how easy it had been to sneak past the guards, though for the most part he'd simply followed Squall's lead. It seemed to him that of the pair, the brunet was better at sneaking around than he was (and he wasn't afraid to admit this fact either), since he had been the one who'd been able to avoid the attention of the guards when they'd first arrived.

Squall had proven Tidus' theory right, and without any problems they'd made their way inside. But their tiny group got even smaller when it was proposed (announced actually) that they would be splitting up. When asked what to do he'd been told, not too kindly, to figure it out himself.

Tidus got the strange and nagging feeling that Squall didn't usually work well with other people.

The Blitzer had been more than a little proud of himself when he'd thought of masquerading as an enemy soldier, and had given himself a sound pat on the back when he'd stumbled upon some spare uniforms. The only flaw in the plan was getting out without detection, and since he had no clue where Squall had wandered off to, he was on his own in that respect.

Not to mention that the armour was _heavy_. How people were actually supposed to move around in this stuff, Tidus would never know and he was looking forward to the withdrawal order so that he could shed the heavy metal and return wearing just the strange cloth clothing that Matilda and her family had (generously) made for him.

His plan was simple. He would walk around pretending to be one of the guards and, eventually, he would hear things about these Generals of Chaos. He knew enough not to snoop around and ask questions, since it was more than likely they had already been properly introduced. With any luck, Cloud and Cid's distraction might even allow him to explore the castle a little more, and give him more time to do what he had to. Unfortunately, he'd come across another squad of guards and had been forced to accompany them to some kind of briefing they were holding.

That had resulted in the hell that he was currently suffering, listening to the head guard almost rant about how great their king was.

As if someone or something had heard Tidus' mental musings, an alarm sounded, startling the blonde athlete. He was barely able to reign in his surprised shout, but he knew just from the alarm that the others had moved in. It was up to Squall and him to do the rest.

* * *

"Looks like they've made the first move," he spoke, his lofty voice almost floating lightly through the air in an effort to relay his speech. "Just as you anticipated."

A snort came from the other, sounding almost offended that his word had not been taken for fact, though he said nothing to comment on this.

"If Elysium is as smart as the King says then it was inevitable they would come looking for answers," the woman crooned matter-of-factly. "Which is all well and good. They're doing our work for us."

This time, the second man did speak. "The reports suggest the attack is coming from the east courtyard. The number isn't so much to be concerned with as the fighters themselves."

"How so?" The lofty one spoke.

"They're winning," the silent one stated. "But they're allowing few to escape. Even a few stragglers could result in more enemies to fight. Judging by the reports, they should know that much."

"They've got someone on the inside," the woman mentioned smartly. "No doubt trying to gather information on us, and they're trying to keep the attention in the courtyard."

"Very well," the lofty one said, rising to his feet. "I shall allow them to believe they have our full undivided attention. I would suggest a sweep of the castle itself, if only to find the intruders?"

"That goes without saying." The tone of the silent one indicated that he did not appreciate being ordered around.

"The King will want to learn of our findings," the woman added. "I _suggest_ we trade notes before providing a proper briefing. The information _we _gather may just prove to be useful to our own ends as well as the King's."

There was no verbal agreement to this particular suggestion, and all three parties moved out to see to their roles.

* * *

They were doing surprisingly well.

The soldiers patrolling the grounds nearby had been caught unawares, their numbers falling to the bladed weapons the resistance wielded. Cid managed to knock away two of his potential attackers before unleashing a fire spell that forced them further back. Dazed from the spell, it was unlikely they would rise soon, even as the particles of magic faded away.

But the plan wasn't to simply subdue the enemy. They had allowed a couple of stragglers to get away in order to sound the alarm. That in itself would draw out more of the soldiers, ensuring that the two searching inside weren't caught before they completed their objective.

And, with any luck, they might be able to lure out one of the Generals to boot.

After tripping an armour-clad guard, Cid turned to his right and watched as Cloud flipped over an advancing soldier, landing on the ground behind him and narrowly missing the enemy soldiers who were coming to aid their comrade. It put the ex-Soldier right in the middle of them. The cut of his blade didn't miss however and the resulting wave of energy that lanced out from the buster sword knocked the soldiers back, etching their scars across the ground and leaving them as evidence of the attack. The blonde swordsman seemed to be handling himself just fine and proved as such as he pressed onward.

Cid didn't marvel at the work though, because he had his own soldiers to deal with. Spinning around in a circle, he lashed out with his trident and, wielding it like a quarterstaff, felled the soldiers who thought they could surround him. As he rotated his body, he twisted the metal object in his hands, never sparing a soldier a single hit and, by the time he had finished his rotation, the enemy surrounded him in a circle, groaning and wincing as they no doubt tried to make sense of what had just happened to them.

The pilot didn't stop there and, with an outstretched hand, threw out an arc of lightning that hit a soldier about to take advantage of one of the other rebels further along. Momentary paralysis kicked in from the attack and the rebel was able to overpower his attacker before shouting his thanks and rushing to aid another comrade.

Puffing from the cigarette in his mouth, Cid didn't miss a beat, channelling the material through the trident and slamming it into the ground, causing the earth to quake beneath his feet and toss some of the advancing soldiers into the air. They hit the ground with a dull crunch as the earth righted itself, the fissures and cracks sealing themselves up as though they had never formed to begin with even as Cid prepared his next move.

But before he could muster a chance to do that, he noted how the sky was suddenly darkening, far too quickly for it to have been normal. Knowing that only magic could be involved, Cid shouted out a warning before taking heed of his own words, ducking back and away before he could become entangled in the spell.

And sure enough, as everyone was heading back the way they had come, a blast of lightning lashed out from the heavens, hitting the stone ground with such a force that it left blackened scars across its surface. The King's soldiers, who had not been so quick to react, were caught in the blast and, despite the stone not being a natural conductor, charged the men with the electrical current. They fell the ground, some twitching while others lay still.

Cid gulped at the sight, grateful that he had seen the attack coming before directing his gaze up in search of the cause. The culprit had to be around there somewhere and he got the distinct feeling that it had nothing to do with the guards they had been contending with thus far. It either meant that the King had spell casters at his disposal or that they were about to be introduced to one of the very people they were seeking to identify. Before he could even begin to look, there was a shout of warning that caused the pilot to throw himself onto the ground. Seconds later, he could feel heat sailing over his prone form, even as he covered the back of his head with his arms. He rose only when the heat had passed him and was finally staring at the cause of these attacks.

Standing atop one of the pyres crafted into the barrier walls was the strangest looking man he had ever seen. The sleeves along his arms, long and dark blue, didn't appear to be attached to anything and almost completely obscured his hands, aside from his long claw-like fingers that barely resembled that of a human's. His chest was bare, aside from a red frilly cloth that stuck up out of his strange trousers that were tucked into his tall black boots. Seeming coming from the green sash that wrapped around his waist was what looked to be the lower half of a cape like robe that was filled with strange symbols and designs. But the strangest thing about him was his hair, which was blue in colour, though that wasn't the worst of it. It looked as though it could have been fashioned in a normal mid-length style if it weren't for the strange long strands of hair that seemed to coil and stand up on their own. The sight made Cloud's untameable hair look somewhat sane.

In the strange looking man's right hand was a weapon that was too long to be a wand and too short to be a staff. It had an equally strange symbol at the top and, while the base was a green, the design was red in colour, with intricate beads pilled along the middle.

Just by looking at him and recalling the people of this city had Cid convinced that this was one of the Generals of Chaos.

The other rebels seemed to realize this too, because they turned to Cid and Cloud for any indication that the pair recognized him. Both fighters exchanged puzzled glances, never before having seen whatever this man was supposed to be before. It meant he had to have come from either Tidus or Squall's worlds. Judging from the strange looking clothes, Cid was putting money on the former.

"So you are the ones whom we've been sent to manage." He spoke with an airy tone, his voice higher than most men Cid had ever heard, but with a practiced air that gave him the idea this man was well educated. "Such a pity. I expected something more… impressive, given your plight. Standing up to the king, while admirable, is very foolhardy."

He stepped forward, raising his wand-staff and pointing it at the group. "Well, if you're offering your lives, I might as well take them."

* * *

He crept down the corridor, keeping to the darkest corners of the hall, only to duck into archways when his hearing picked up movement from nearby. He held his breath, waiting for whatever it was to show itself, be it an errant guard, a squad, or even one of the people he was seeking to identify.

Infiltration missions had always been fairly tricky to some, but it was all about avoiding detection. Throughout the years he had spent in solitude, simply being around without garnering unwanted attention, and training, Squall was rather confident in his skills of subterfuge. The more careful he was, the less likely he would be spotted but it was time consuming. The longer he drew this out, the less likely the others outside would be able to provide cover, at least not without casualties.

Given their operation, the more that made it out alive, the better.

Suddenly, he heard a noise close by, forcing the SeeD into a crouch against the wall. Knowing he would be spotted if he looked around the corner, he pulled open the folds of his cloak to unsheathe his weapon, but only enough to be able to catch the reflection of those approaching in the blade. The noises became louder, making themselves known in the form of footfalls and Squall held his breath, waiting for them to either pass or for the confrontation that would come from this.

Then, out from the path behind him emerged two guards in full armour walking purposely, their shoulders and backs straight as they marched almost noisily down the corridor. Squall judged from their movements that they were patrolling the grounds and that they would not spot the gunblader as their path took them away from him. The path he was on was short, stretching only a few feet behind him before curving down to the right. The path ahead of him stretched onward and forked into three separate directions. If they had proceeded towards him, he could have ducked down the corridor but without any proper cover he would have been spotted eventually.

Upon leaving Tidus to fend for himself, Squall had discovered the castle to be an intermittent series of twists and turns that made navigating difficult. Thus, he had – as discretely as he could manage – marked the places he had already searched by marking the walls using magic. He didn't cast a spell exactly, just channelling fire magic through his gloved fingertips and leaving a small impression within the stone. It made tracking his location a little easier, and they were discrete enough that the guards wouldn't be able to find them without knowing exactly what they were looking for.

Letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, Squall waited for any sign that the guards would be returning, frowning grimly all the same. While it was still considerably less people inside than there had been before the alarm had gone off, he had hoped that even more would have been dispatched to see to the intruders. He supposed that meant the King had had his people trained well, or that these Generals at least knew what they were doing.

Now it was only a matter of which direction he would take now but he knew they were wasting time. The sooner they got the General's out of the picture, the sooner they could reach the king and force him to undo the spell he had cast. The sooner they did that, the sooner the tear in their worlds could be repaired and they could all return to their homes.

Thinking along these lines brought Squall's thoughts to his home and to everyone else but he forced these thoughts away, knowing he couldn't afford to become distracted. He was on a mission and he couldn't mess it up. There was just too much at stake.

Squall was so absorbed in his thoughts and the task at hand that even with junctions he failed to hear the approach of footfalls coming towards him, not from in front but from _behind_. Nor, did he hear the whisper of a weapon rising up in time to the assailant's quiet footsteps, preparing to cleave the SeeD Commander from the side, just outside of his peripheral vision…

* * *

When the alarms had sounded, the guards were forced into action.

At first it was calm and silent with the exception of the ramblings of the head guard, but it was like someone shot a machina weapon in the middle of the crowd, so loud the alarm was. Instead of the resulting chaos that would have caused, the guards drew their swords and shields with practiced ease and rushed to their stations. It was more than likely they'd had drills about this kind of thing with the way things easily fit into place as they rushed to where their comrades outside were fighting.

Tidus' plan had been to slip away when given the opportunity, but the guards were moving so cohesively that he hadn't been given the chance. Having been forced to move with them or otherwise be trampled, the Blitzer attempted to navigate his surroundings amongst the moving crowd. It wasn't easy. Moving through against water was far easier than this and he felt the panic begin to rise up into his chest as he tried to find a means of ditching the other guards while maintaining his cover.

Had this been an underwater issue, Tidus would have been able to easily dart and weave his way around people and obstacles alike. Sadly, because he was on dry land and an enclosed space it was far more difficult.

He didn't know how far they had moved away from the room they had originally started in and he was becoming more and more disoriented as the guards kept up the base, barely allowing him to watch his surroundings and keep track of where he was or heading, but eventually he found a grove in the wall up ahead. The only issue he would have was ducking out of his place in the patrol line – rather than rushing like a crowd at a concert, they were moving in a brick like formation at a fast pace, probably planning on rushing the attackers as soon as they left the building. He would have to time his movement well.

The armour proved to hinder his movement, but surprisingly enough it wasn't enough to be intolerable. Tidus wondered if maybe he was gradually getting used to the weighted feel of it, but opted to keep his mind focused on more important matters. Like ditching the crowd.

As they moved closer and closer towards the grove, Tidus positioned himself closer and closer to the wall. No one seemed to notice or care as he stepped into their position, at least they didn't say anything, simply adjusting and moving to fill the gaps accordingly. Soon enough he was at the grove and it was simply a matter of stepped aside and into its confines before he was finally free.

The guards continued to pass him by without so much as a glance, so focused on their objective as they were. It took discipline to be that focused, but at the same time it was kind of pointless if they didn't catch even the slightest thing out of place as they headed to their objective. Tidus almost felt sorry for them, knowing that it would probably get them all killed in the end.

He stayed where he was even after the river of soldiers had already passed him by and proceeded further down the corridor. It wasn't until he could no longer ear the march of footfalls that he breathed a sigh in relief, knowing that he was finally alone. Stepping out of the grove in the wall, Tidus looked over his surroundings, frowning as this corridor looked exactly like the one before it. It was like some kind of maze, reminding the Blitzer of the temples of Yevon, the ones Yuna had to visit in order to obtain a new Aeon. If they didn't get lost then the puzzles almost threw you for a loop.

Still, he knew he had to start somewhere. He could retrace his steps later, but right now he knew he had to keep looking for clues behind these General's identities. Hopefully he'd run into Squall at some point and rely on him to get them outside, if he hadn't become just as disoriented during his search.

"I knew it was only a matter of time," a voice spoke suddenly.

Tidus flinched, almost like he'd been physically attacked, but turned in the direction of the voice, surprised when he saw someone there when he had been alone only seconds before.

The voice belonged to a female, who stood opposite him along the corridor. A long set of red robes nearly obscured the strange markings that covered her body, and long black gloves covered her hands, giving the illusion of talons when she was most definitely a human. The long strands of her grey hair were pulled back into a style that resembled horns while two long strands sat across over face, also covered in those strange markings. The black wings on her back flapped lightly behind her, and her yellow eyes stared at him as though she could see through him as she stepped closer, her bare feet lightly tapping the stone floor beneath their feet.

Her robe, exposing the valley of her breasts and her navel, reminded the athlete a little of Seymour and the thought alone put him on his guard more than her words had. Somehow he knew he'd just found what he was looking for. More appropriately, they had found him. She wasn't unattractive, but the strange markings along her face, chest and legs were off putting and he couldn't help but wonder who exactly was crazy enough to get all of that body ink on them. It was either that, or she'd been born with the markings.

"I'll have to have a word with the King," the woman crooned lightly. "It seems his soldiers suffer from tunnel vision, so absorbed in their orders that they do not recognize an interloper in their midst when they see one. Simply wearing the armour does not make you a trained soldier, but I will commend you on you plan of masquerading as one of our own. Had I not been watching, I doubt anyone would have noticed this slight."

"Uh… thanks?" Tidus said, unsure of whether or not he should have taken that as a compliment.

"Oh don't thank me yet," the woman said, and the look on her face was very unnerving. "We haven't even begun yet."

Her wings flapped, sending dark feathers scattering about the hallway and she unfolded her arms, raising them in front of her as she smiled darkly.

* * *

_First and foremost, I'm sorry if Cloud strikes some of you as being weak, but that is not the case. Cloud was not trying to start a fight, which was why he limited his attacks to simply being blocks. Hopefully this chapter will showcase some of Cloud's strengths, but for the purposes of the introduction, he was simply defending himself. Sorry if this disappoints some people. __Also in regards to Cloud - in the game, he actually does suffer from motion sickness. With the exception of a couple of blurbs throughout the game this was highly under addressed, leaning on Yuffie for the 'I'm gonna be sick' bits. If you ride the roller coaster in the Gold Saucer enough times, you get to watch Cloud throw up. _

_In regards to the number that was brought into this world, think of it in these terms. Valbryn, the caster of the spell, had enough time to pick and choose the people he wished to join the fight. He had the option of being as selective as he could be. Having only caught wind of what Valbryn was up to, Elysium did not have this luxury and was instead forced to simply grab other beings from the worlds Valbryn was sifting through and hope for the best. The fact that Elysium calls upon four people while Valbryn brings three is irrelevant. Also in regards to Vincent - as it should be obvious by now the identity of the people Valbryn brought to this world - I'm so over him. I'm glad his story was explored in Dirge of Cerebus (which, in my opinion was a shit game, but to each their own) and that we finally got some answers in regards to his origins, but I'm about ready to put things to bed when it concerns our former Turk. To be honest, he was never my favourite character to begin with (he was also never in my final lineup, since I loathe using characters I can't control and since you lose control of Vincent when he's using his limit breaks... I digress), so I guess that kind of adds to it. Sorry if this offends some people, but that's just my belief. _

_At any rate, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter (or didn't hate it too much) and I'll try to update this story more frequently than I have been as of late. Also, happy holidays (as I post this after midnight on Boxing Day). _


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